The recent news of a Lawsuit between Black Widow Actress Scarlett Johansson and her former employer Disney things have been heating up in the media with reports of other actresses such as Emma Stone, who starred in the recent Live Action Cruella Prequel, and Emily Blunt, who co-starred alongside Dwayne Johnson in the recent Jungle Cruise film, are reportedly “weighing their options” in regards to lawsuit cases as well. The rumor is they too may sue over the same grievances– the revenue share of their films’ box office performance.

Due to the films not doing well at the Box Office some blame the simultaneous release on Disney Plus taking away from their cut as all of the mentioned films aren’t making back their money via theaters and are fighting for the pay they believe are owed. At least that’s what the public knows, apparently there may be more to the story according to a Long Time Disney Lawyer.

The Lawyer in question is Daniel Petrocelli, who took part in the Stephen Slesinger Inc v. The Walt Disney Company over the Merchandising Rights of Winnie the Pooh. He also represented Former President Donald Trump and Trump University in a 2016 case, and was the Lead Trial Council for the AT&T – Time Warner merger.

Petrocelli stated to Variety: “It is obvious that this is a highly orchestrated PR campaign to achieve an outcome that is not obtainable in the lawsuit, No amount of public pressure can change or obscure the explicit contractual commitments. The written contract is clear as a bell. We treated Disney Premier Access revenue like box office for the purposes of the bonus requirements in the contract. That only enhanced the economics for Ms. Johansson.“

When speaking about Disney’s “Personal Attack” on Johansson’s character, he stated: “But Disney’s lawyers cannot erase the company’s earlier public statements, the terms of Ms. Johansson’s contract, the history of what actually led to this lawsuit, or the implications of its behavior on the talent community at large, If Disney genuinely believed what its lawyers now claim, it would welcome having the dispute decided in open court, instead of angling to hide its misconduct from the public in a confidential arbitration.“

With this whole situation potentially being a PR stunt it does leave a lot still unanswered, such as “Won’t this damage either Scarlet or Disney’s Public Image?” Not to mention this “stunt” started about 2 weeks after the film’s premier, which in movie going time feels like 2 years, so this wouldn’t really “BOOST” Ticket Sales or Disney Plus buys. Not to mention the report of Keven Feige himself wasn’t happy about the Disney Plus decision either.

So do you think this was all a stunt or just some guy expressing his opinion/theory?

Source: Comicbook, Variety