By Sam Ozer-Staton

All is not well in the Happiest Place on Earth. The Walt Disney Company, which owns Marvel Studios and produces the hit Avengers films, finds itself the target of a lawsuit filed by one of its biggest stars, the actress Scarlett Johansson. 

In a complaint filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court, Johansson alleges that Disney breached her contract by releasing the long-awaited film “Black Widow” directly on its streaming service, Disney+. The dispute, which has largely been covered as a food fight between a wealthy star and an even wealthier company, could signal a sea change in how actors are compensated across Hollywood. It also represents an inflection point for a business that has quickly become dominated by streaming services like Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney+, a shift accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

First, a bit of movie business 101. Most Hollywood blockbusters have historically been “theatrically released” — that is, they’ve been released exclusively in theaters before being widely released via streaming platforms, DVD, or VHS. For years, Hollywood’s biggest stars have negotiated contracts that include incentives tied to box office performance. For a star like Johansson, backend compensation could be worth tens of millions of dollars. Her most recent contract, which included a lucrative box office bonus, was negotiated years before the launch of Disney’s streaming service and the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, which shuttered theaters around the world.