Who supports Scarlett Johansson with this Disney movie lawsuit?

Black Widow, like other Marvel movies, has been a hit film since its release, but the movie with Scarlett Johansson hasn’t come without a fair share of controversy and legal issues in these past weeks. After Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit against Disney over how the release of Black Widow was handled, other stars and big names have been jumping on board to voice their own opinions. Read what they had to say on it here. 

Elizabeth Olsen has made it quite clear that she stands with Scarlett Johansson when it comes to the controversy over the lawsuit on the Black Widow movie. In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, the star of the hit Disney Plus TV series WandaVision admitted that she really respected Scarlett Johansson for standing up for herself and even called her “so tough” and solidified her stance in being on the actress’s side. 

Elizabeth Olsen speaks out

When asked about the issue with Scarlett Johansson over the Black Widow movie, the WandaVision star shared: “I think she’s so tough and literally when I read that I was like, ‘Good for you Scarlett’”. Of course, another question that was thrown at her during the joint interview for Vanity Fair with Jason Sudeikis was the ongoing discussion in Hollywood over the new age of streaming sites and what this means for movie theaters.

In the interview, Elizabeth Olsen did share that she was indeed quite worried over what streaming services may potentially do to movie theaters and the future of theatrical experiences, but she assured that she was not worried for Scarlett Johansson or even her own future projects. The actress shared: “When it comes to actors and their earnings, I mean, that’s just, that’s just all contracts. So it’s either in the contract or it’s not”.

When Jason Sudeikis was asked the same question during the interview with Vanity Fair, the star addressed that “It is appropriately bad-ass and on brand” when it came to his thoughts on the balance between streaming services and theatrical releases. He also said: “I just hope that with that still comes creative autonomy, and we don’t lose sight of that”.

The ongoing lawsuit

So what is going on in the lawsuit with Scarlett Johansson over the Black Widow movie? If you’re not sure on what the heck is going on, let’s catch you up a bit to make sure you’re fully updated on the ongoing situation. The suit was first filed by Scarlett Johansson against the Walt Disney Company just last month, but of course, you may be wondering why this actress is filing a lawsuit against a company she has been a part of.

Well, the situation all started when Disney decided to simultaneously release the Black Widow movie with Scarlett Johansson on both the Disney Plus streaming site as well as in movie theaters amidst the COVID-19 pandemic that has drastically impacted the attendance of theater goers. The suit claims that the studio breached her contract because of this, and alleged that because of this, the actress lost millions of dollars. 

In the past weekend, Disney attempted to move the suit into arbitration and targeted Periwinkle Entertainment, which was who negotiated the actress’s original contract. To this, Scarlett Johansson’s lawyer John Berlinski stated: “After initially responding to this litigation with a misogynistic attack against Scarlett Johansson, Disney is now, predictably, trying to hide its misconduct in a confidential arbitration”.

“Why is Disney so afraid of litigating this case in public? Because it knows that Marvel’s promises to give Black Widow a typical theatrical release ‘like its other films’ had everything to do with guaranteeing that Disney wouldn’t cannibalize box office receipts in order to boost Disney+ subscriptions. Yet that is exactly what happened — and we look forward to presenting the overwhelming evidence that proves it”, Berlinski said.