Even as Scarlett Johansson is locked in combat with Disney over Black Widow, her lawsuit isn’t helping just her. Turns out, other actors and actresses are benefitting from this as well. Emma Stone is reportedly reaping the benefits of the lawsuit in her negotiations with Disney over Cruella 2.
Screen Rant (who cited a report from Matthew Belloni) is reporting that Emma Stone basically used the Scarlett Johansson lawsuit as leverage against Disney over Cruella 2. It’s very likely that she used the threat of a lawsuit of her own as a bargaining chip. That threat, being very real, will likely help her to get a better deal from the House of Mouse.
So what deal did Emma Stone strike with Disney, you might ask? Well, prior to this deal (like with Scarlett Johansson), Disney would have a tiered bonus system tied directly to the box office number. Basically, if the box officer numbers meets certain milestones, they would pay the actor/actress bonuses for each milestone. Now though, Stone will receive an 8-figure payment regardless of whether Disney goes forward with Cruella 2 or not. In addition, Stone now has a more traditional payment scheme “that includes a royalty on each at-home sale on streaming“. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a much better deal than before.
Scarlett Johansson: Indirectly Helping One Actor/Actress At A Time
In effect, Emma Stone forced Disney to “acknowledge for the first time that it should have negotiated a ‘buyout’ of her box office bonuses on the first Cruella, like Warner Bros. did for its 2021 movies”. That’s something that likely would not have been possible without Scarlett Johansson and her lawsuit against Disney. This may be as close as we can get to an apology from Disney for their treatment of their actors and actresses. Thus, it seems the lawsuit is having some positive effects, in general. At this point, even if it somehow fails, hopefully other actors and actresses can use its example to also negotiate better such deals…. Whether with Disney or some other company.
Source: Screen Rant, Matthew Belloni
