They know she's got it in writing, right?

Brooks Barnes has long resisted editorial
pressure to portay Spider-Man as a menace,
and I say good for him. It shows integrity.

Wai-wai-wai-wait, is Disney using the pandemic to screw Scarlet Johansson out of her Black Widow money? Because it kind of sounds like Disney is using the pandemic to screw Scarlet Johansson out of her Black Widow money. According to Stan Lee-worthily named New York Times reporter Brooks Barnes, Johansson filed suit today saying that Disney promised her that Black Widow would be limited to theaters only for the first three or four months before moving to Disney's streaming service, but then went ahead and released it on Disney Plus anyway. So what's the problem? You might reasonably ask. 

Doesn't mean they'll ever leave
a dime of it on the table though.

More sales is more sales, right? Sure, but the problem is that Johansson's contract gave her a bonus based on ticket sales, not Disney+ subscriptions, so by releasing the film on it simultaneously, the company increases its profits at the expense of Johansson's pay. The lawsuit puts the amount of loss to her personally at fifty million, with an "m" sure, but still, million dollars, which to you or I is a staggering, eye-watering sum, but to famous people and faceless corporations it's, well, it's still a lot, just not as much.

But the reason why so many biscuits are burnt--figuratively--is that a Disney spokesperson responded with this nonsense:

Pictured: Scarlett Johansson laughing.
Probably about the pandemic.

'There is no merit whatsoever to this filing. The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the Covid-19 pandemic...the release of Black Widow on Disney+ with Premier Access has significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20M she has received to date."

-Some spokesperson, digging

themselves in deeper

Pictured: lawyers, seen with with
documentation. They love documentation.

Wow. Ok, so to be clear, I don't so much care about Black Widow, or Marvel movies in general, or Disney, and I don't think anyone's acting is worth tens of millions of dollars. I have nothing against Scarlet Johansson, but I mean, it's just acting. That said, couple of things: if Johansson is suing because she feels Disney has breached their agreement, chances are that she has something, you know, in writing. She's probably not just making it up. You don't sue one of the largest and most powerful media companies if you can't show receipts. So yeah, there's some merit.

"How dare she insist we fulfill our
contractural obligations during a pandemic!"

-Disney Studios, the aggrieved party 

And why are they bringing up COVID-19? It's a pandemic, not The Purge, laws still apply. You can't just go back on a contract and say "corona virus made me do it." Also, the pandemic can't be justification for breaking the contract and a reason to call Johansson callous for suing over it at the same time. I mean, pick one. Speaking of callous behavior (weren't we?), remember that time they re-opened their parks at the hight of the danger? It's ok if you don't, because the internet does. Anyway, I'm just not sure they should be calling out other people as callous.

Again, I know we're talking about a lot of money here. An amount far in excess of what you or I will ever see. But Disney's suggestion that she should shut up and be happy with what she got while at the same time raking in an uptick in subscriptions thanks to her movie is pretty shitty and I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say that the pandemic isn't the only reason they think they can get away with this.

Pictured: Scarlett Johansson and five other actors that Disney would never have tried this on.