hollywood star scarlettjohansson is suing disney for breach of contract, after it streamed her film black widow at the same time as its cinema release. the film set a post pandemic box office record, grossing $218 million in its first weekend. but box office receipts then fell sharply and ms johansson anousha sakoui is a journalist at the la times and is following the story. during the pandemic, with all the cinemas closed, big media companies like disney, warner bros, they launched their own streaming services and they wanted to use their biggest films and funnel them into the homes instead of in theatres. that would help them in two ways, one, to get people to see the films when they might not be going to the theatre or cinemas and also to boost audience for their new streaming services. what scarlettjohansson is arguing is that her film, black widow,
she lost income as a result of that strategy of making that film available in the home, when her compensation was largely driven by box office receipts, and so she is suing them. right, so how significant is this cae? this happened during an extraordinary time, a pandemic, but could set it a precedent for ordinary times? sure, because throughout this argument that has already happened, we have the complaint. wirstly, it is quite unusual to see such a big star go up against a big studio in a very public fashion like this and also disney in its response, who said the claim was meritless, they outed her salary, saying she already earned $20 million and that this was during a pandemic, that this should be maybe enough for her. so clearly scarlettjohansson does not agree, so she is fighting that legally, so it is quite unprecedented to see these numbers
elsewhere in the us, audiences returning to broadway shows will have to wear masks and show proof that they have had coronavirus vaccinations. the broadway league says performers and people working backstage at theatres will also have to be vaccinated. shows are set to return in the autumn after a long absence. during the pandemic, broadway s 41 theatres were forced closed, as new york city struggled to cope with spiralling infections. the hollywood star scarlettjohansson is suing disney for breach of contract, after it streamed her superhero film black widow at the same time as its cinema release. the film set a post pandemic box office record, grossing $218 million in its first weekend. but box office receipts then fell sharply and ms johansson argues she was deprived of potential earnings. disney said it had fully complied with her contract, and her case had no merit whatsoever . i m joined now by anousha sakoui, a journalist at the la times specialising in the entertainment indu
great to have you. thanks for talking to us. could you just explain what really happened here between scarlettjohansson and between scarlett joha nsson and disney? between scarlett johansson and disne ? a . ~ between scarlett johansson and disne ? ,, , disney? back trippier is during the andemic, disney? back trippier is during the pandemic. with disney? back trippier is during the pandemic, with all disney? back trippier is during the pandemic, with all the disney? back trippier is during the pandemic, with all the cinemas - pandemic, with all the cinemas closed, big media companies like disney, warner bros., they launched their own streaming services and they wanted to use their biggest films and funnel them into the homes instead of in theatres. that would help them into ways, one, to get people to see the films when they might not be going to the theatre or cinemas and also to boost audience for their new streaming services. what scarlettjohansson is arguing is that her film,