Posted in: Marvel Studios, Movies | Tagged: black widow, bob chapek, bob iger, disney
In a new report it was revealed that Bob Chapek and Bob Iger thought the other Bob would handle the Black Widow situation to prevent the lawsuit.
The COVID-19 pandemic threw the entire entertainment industry into a tailspin, and no one was really sure what to do about it. At first, studios were delaying films for weeks or just a few months with the idea that this whole thing would go away by Memorial Day, but that was not the case. Others took the films already in theaters and immediately moved them to VOD to try and recoup some of the losses. Others, like Universal, made the unprecedented move and had Trolls World Tour go from theatrical to PVOD releases. As the pandemic continued, it became apparent that things would not get better, and Disney went on to release Black Widow as a PVOD offering on Disney+ and in theaters in July 2021. However, star Scarlett Johansson filed a suit against Disney due to the nature of the hybrid release not being in her initial contract concerning residuals. It was a messy situation that was eventually resolved. However, a new CNBC article about Disney and the chaos surrounding Bob Iger and Bob Chapek reveals some more details about how this lawsuit came to be. It essentially came down to the two Bob’s thinking the other would handle it.
In the article, Chapek allegedly thought this was a “creative issue and therefore Iger’s territory.” Iger also had a “long relationship with [Johansson CAA partner Brayn] Lourd and new Johansson. This was his area.” Iger, however, was not involved with any of the conversations with Lourd, who didn’t comment on the article with CNBC. The sources say that they thought that Iger would have been involved because Lourd “thought Iger would have quickly resolved the situation given the value he historically placed on creative relationships.” Iger apparently thought this was a business issue, not a creative one, and this was Chapek’s issue, and “if Chapek wanted to be CEO, he should be CEO, Iger reasoned.” The article says that “Chapek and Iger were barely speaking to each other” at this time, which is why one Bob thought the other Bob was handling what was about to become a massive lawsuit and PR nightmare.
The PR nightmare came in the wake of the lawsuit being filed and a very nasty statement that Disney released that the article says that both Iger and Chapek signed off on and that neither of them liked the release of, but neither stopped either because “each believed the other should be in charge.” Everyone maligned the statement because it essentially accused Johansson of being out for more money instead of disputing her contract as she had the right to do. Her contract obligations weren’t being fulfilled, and the circumstances surrounding why the contract wasn’t being held up don’t matter. The Black Widow lawsuit was almost a canary in the coal mine for parts of the ongoing strikes now because there is a lot of talk about the idea of residuals in the streaming era.
The lawsuit was settled by October 2021, but the suit seemed to be souring things even more between Chapek and Iger. There was a meeting that had both Chapek and Iger present, and Iger was not impressed with sources saying “he felt the meeting was “amateur hour” — a meeting “run by children” — with far too many people weighing in on how the company should respond, according to a person familiar with his thoughts.” As mentioned during our article yesterday about the board member who said Disney shouldn’t release Strange World because it was “too polarizing,” this article and the last three years have shown real weakness in the studio that everyone thought was once too big to fail.
This weekend, Disney fans are in Florida for the Destination D23 event, and they are sprinkling as much pixie dust into the eyes of their biggest fans. However, Disney Magic does not so easily fool industry insiders and investors. The chaos between the two Bob’s and how messy this entire situation is only makes a company that already looked weak look even worse as they head to the negotiation table with writers and actors who want livable wages. Iger’s response to the strike was terrible, and this article paints Iger in just as bad of a light as Chapek. So, exchanging one Bob for the other does not look like the improvement that Disney hoped would be.
Black Widow: Summary, Cast List, Release Date
Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.
Black Widow, directed by Cate Shortland, stars Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, O. T. Fagbenle, Rachel Weisz, and Ray Winstone. It was released on July 9, 2021, in theatres and on Disney+ with Premier Access.
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