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Scarlett Is Only the First: Inside the ‘Black Widow’ Lawsuit

The suit hits on the precise business problem plaguing Hollywood in 2021: the interests of the studios no longer appear aligned with those of the stars.

Scarlett Johansson in a scene of Black Widow
Photo by Jay Maidment/Marvel Studios
Matthew Belloni
July 29, 2021

Where to begin? How about here: Over the past few days, I’m told by two sources, Disney executives had begun reaching out to some of the talent from its summer 2021 movies, exploring a possible plan that would pay them extra money to compensate for the cannibalized box office revenue that occurred after the studio put their films on Disney+’s “premier access” tier the same day as the company released them in theaters.