Benedict Cumberbatch Addresses Scarlett Johansson's 'Black Widow' Lawsuit
Watch: Benedict Cumberbatch weighs in on 'Avengers' costar Scarlett Johansson's Disney lawsuit
Benedict Cumberbatch has spoken out about Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow lawsuit with Disney.
In July, legal representatives for Johansson contacted the Los Angeles Superior Court and alleged that Johansson's contract had been breached when Disney released the long-delayed Black Widow via its Premier Access service on Disney+ at the same time as it hit cinemas.
They claimed that Johansson's contract stipulated that her salary would be tied to Black Widow's box office performance, which was lessened by fans choosing to watch it at home instead.
Disney has dismissed the lawsuit as having 'no merit whatsoever', adding: 'Disney has fully complied with Ms. Johansson's contract.'
Now, Cumberbatch, Johansson's Marvel co-star, has responded to the controversy by calling it 'sad'.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Doctor Strange actor said: 'It's sad what's going on between the lawyers. 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 contractualised.
'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 will next be seen in both Spider-Man: No Way Home on December 17, 2021 and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on March 25, 2022 – two of the most anticipated upcoming MCU features.
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