Tag: Black Widow

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Black Widow lost over $600 million in PVOD revenue due to piracy: report

For a long period earlier during the pandemic, all eyes were on Disney to see whether the company would bring Marvel’s Black Widow to Disney+ and theatres on day one, as it did with 2020’s live-action Mulan remake.

Eventually, Disney did indeed go this route in July 2021, in which Disney+ subscribers could pay $34.99 CAD to stream the movie. Now, we’re learning just how much that ‘Premier Access’ has cost the company.

In a larger feature about Hollywood’s approach to day-and-date theatrical/streaming releases, Deadline reports that rampant online piracy cost Disney around $600 million USD (about $762 million CAD) on the Scarlett Johansson-led superhero flick in premium video on demand (PVOD) revenue alone. That’s because people were quickly able to snag 4K-quality copies of the film in several languages and post them online.

This doesn’t count how much less money the movie earned in theatres due to the Premier Access release, or the $40 million-plus (about $51 million CAD) settlement it reached with Johansson over a high-profile Black Widow contract dispute.

Of course, a company like Disney will be more than fine after this, but it’s nonetheless interesting to see how much financial impact piracy can have.

The big takeaway from Deadline‘s feature, though, is that the hybrid cinema-digital release, in general, went out “like a dud.” Even movies that were offered day one at no cost in the U.S. on HBO Max, like King Richard, Reminiscence, In the Heights, Malignant and Judas and the Black Messiah, are said to have had “underwhelming” streaming audiences of two million or less.

That, coupled with the solid box office performance of films like Spider-Man: No Way Home, No Time to Die and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, is encouraging more studios to stick to theatrical-first releases. It remains to be seen whether the Omicron variant — which has already led to theatres closing in Ontario and Quebec — will alter these plans.

Image credit: Marvel Studios

Source: Deadline

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Cinéma

Scarlett Johansson in talks over Black Widow film

Scarlett Johansson has entered talks about starring as Black Widow in her own movie.

The 27-year-old actress – who has portrayed the character in ‘Avengers Assemble’ and ‘Iron Man 2’ – has been in negotiations with Marvel boss Kevin Feige about playing Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff in a stand-alone superhero film, which she thinks would be "totally awesome".

She told Screen Rant: "I personally think there’s an awesome Black Widow movie in there. A kind of ‘Bourne’ film that would take the whole comic book genre in a completely different direction. It’d be awesome.

"I’ve spoken to Marvel about it and Kevin Feige, and there’s so much story to draw from, I think it’d be totally awesome."

Scarlett has distanced herself from reprising her role as the Black Widow in ‘Iron Man 3’, but she admits it will be worth squeezing herself back into her skin-tight superhero costume – which she has previously compared to a wetsuit – to give ‘Avengers’ fans another installment of the film franchise.

She added: "I think that you build this kind of character in the hope that the fans are like, ‘we want more’.

"Do I want to spend another three months shedding the manatee skin and squeezing back into that suit? Not necessarily, but it’s all worth it in the end!"
 

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Scarlett Johansson Gets Back into Action

Johansson, 24, isn’t hiding her past anxiety about having to squeeze into the sexy Black Widow costume of her character, Natasha Romanoff, in the film Iron Man 2.

To pull that off, the star took up an intensive workout routine.  Johansson told People magazine, "I kicked some major butt.  It was many, many, hours, days, and months of stunt training and strength training, but it’s fun because I had a goal. The goal was the Lycra catsuit." 

The He’s Just Not That Into You star also talked about what it felt like to see herself in the role. "It was crazy to see it for the first time – everything all zipped up and all the weapons in there, bracelets on, the whole look. It was pretty sweet, I have to say," she says.

The film’s director, Jon Favreau, also talked about Johansson’s outfit.  He explained, "She was wearing an unforgiving costume. She didn’t eat much, that’s for sure. She likes food, as do I, and she was definitely on a low-carb diet and training very hard. It was amazing." 

Favreau added, "I think people are going to be very impressed when they see her. It’s totally different than anything you’ve seen her do before." 

Iron Man 2, starring Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansson, opens in theatres on May 7, 2010.