Avengers: Endgame director, Joe Russo, recently shared his thoughts on Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow lawsuit, and what it says about the current state of studios. Responsible for two of the five highest-grossing films of all time, Joe and his brother, Anthony, are longterm collaborators with Disney/Marvel. Aside from making big-budget superhero films for the House of Mouse, the Russo Brothers also directed Netflix's Cherry (2021), and served as producers on the action-thriller film, Extraction (2020).
Earlier this year, Johansson shocked moviegoers when it was revealed that the 36-year-old actor was suing Disney over the simultaneous release of Black Widow in theaters and on Disney+. She blasted the company for sacrificing the movie's box office success, accusing Disney of breaching her contract and depriving her of potential backend payments. The legal battle quickly turned sour, causing people to wonder if Jungle Cruise stars, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Emily Blunt, would follow suit. However, it was confirmed late last month that Johansson and Disney settled the lawsuit over Black Widow, though the terms of the deal were not disclosed.
While speaking with Variety, Russo weighed in on the legal battle between Disney and Johansson. The director, who has worked with Disney on several projects including Avengers: Infinity War and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, said it was "unfortunate" that the lawsuit spilled out into public domain. He went on to describe the incident as "indicative of significant change" in the industry, saying that corporations are panicking due to the longterm consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Russo's full quote can be read below:
"Corporations are panicking at the moment, because I think that half the studios are going to disappear in the next 5-10 years, and the game has changed dramatically. There are content producers who can outspend any studio, and it’s just a rounding error for them, because they’re $1 trillion companies. We’ve never seen that before in the business.”
It's no secret that the COVID-19 outbreak has had a devastating effect on the theatrical model. While it seems like the global box office is starting to return to semi-normalcy, 2021 numbers are still nowhere close to 2019 in-person ticket sales. Surprisingly, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the sequel to 2018's Venom, is the unexpected winner of the pandemic era box office thus far. In its first weekend, Venom: Let There Be Carnage opened to a massive $90.1 million at the domestic box office—a pandemic record. With the highly anticipated sci-fi epic, Dune, and Marvel's Eternals arriving in the coming weeks, big-budget fall blockbusters might just be the thing that brings moviegoers back to theaters.
However, with the potential IATSE strike and the ongoing pandemic, studios shouldn't be too optimistic for a full recovery just yet. Streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HBO Max continue to grow their subscriber base, and Russo's prediction that content producers will overtake studios seems more than likely. The changing landscape of the industry has, and will likely continue to throw the theatrical model out of whack. It comes as no surprise that studios are panicking, as their survival seems in jeopardy now more than ever before.
Source: Variety