In a lengthy profile to promote his new film The Power of the Dog, Benedict Cumberbatch opens up about having a larger presence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Naturally, Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit accusing Disney of breach of contract by giving Black Widow a day and date release on Disney+ hangs in the air, and Cumberbatch surprisingly wasn’t afraid to wade into those tricky legal waters. Although, the actor knows to gingerly place the blame on lawyers, and not his former Avengers co-star or Disney. Via The Hollywood Reporter:
“It’s sad what’s going on between the lawyers,” Cumberbatch says. “Just the verbiage and the accusations of, ‘Put it in a global pandemic context.’ The whole thing’s just a bit of a mess. We’re trying to understand what the revenue streams should be for artists that contribute to the billion-dollar business that is Disney. And it has to be contractualized. How does an artist’s normal compensation with box office bonuses, how does it work? It’s a new paradigm, and it’s a very complex one. No one saw this coming, and no one should use hindsight to say, ‘Well, it should have been done.’ That was the first of these films that was going to get a cinematic release during the pandemic and got stalled and stalled and stalled. It’s very new territory.”
Cumberbatch is right by saying the whole thing revolves around artist’s making sure they get their contractual back end cut. According to a new report, the ScarJo lawsuit is the result of talks breaking down after the actress team requested a $100 million payday when Disney started talking about making Black Widow available on streaming. That number was derived from what ScarJo would’ve presumably earned if Black Widow had a chance to bring in a $1.2 billion theatrical run as many Marvel films do.
However, these are not normal times, and Disney reportedly didn’t counter-offer due to “disorganization” with the company. For that blunder, they’re now in a public PR battle with Johansson’s team, and it clearly has talent like Cumberbatch paying close attention.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
