I can't comment on the film itself as I haven't seen it yet.
As for the suit I'm sure it must be frustrating to lose out on a huge payday if it was written into your contract, but it's not like she wasn't compensated at all. The release had already been pushed back several times and the shelf life of movies is so small anymore that there really is only short time to act on it so in the interest of both parties the best move was likely the one that Disney chose which was to do a simultaneaous release. So many theaters are still closed and it's unclear how the pandemic is going to play itself out with regard to theaters reopening. Everyone hoped we'd be on the far side of it by this point, but the way things are going it's not likely to be resolved any time soon. That's not a doomsday prediction but just the reality of it all. Some areas are going through another wave of lockdowns depending on the severity of infection rates. The world is just too volitile at this point to make any hard rules about box office releases, no?
As a career move, she could be cutting her nose to spite her face unless they come to some agreement. I'm giving Disney the benefit of the doubt here given the state of the world. Realistically what good does it even do Scarlett Johansen to have to wait on a theatrical release if it's another year from now and the return is even less the longer everyone waits? At least they can both cash in and make the best of it while there's time and interest in the movie. The returns on movies have been shifting so drastically and COVID has only accelerated the change. If anything this whole mess with actors and contracts exposes Hollywood's complacency as an industry and it doesn't help that so many of them are arrogant enough to think they are beyond reproach. Every single industry in the world has been affected by this change and acting as though their wealth should insulated them entirely is simply unrealistic.
Hollywood has structured an unsustainable model for themselves and the cult of celebrity has a price. If it means an A list actor doesn't get another several million, I'm not going to be shedding any tears for them.
Sure, it's true that the pandemic is still uncertain. But I see this more as akin to the following scenario.
Let's say you're Timothy Zahn. You're hired as a contractor to do a job. Let's say the job is writing a 4th edition of the Guide to the Star Wars Universe. In times past, you might've said "I'll do the job, but only for $300,000" (just for example). And, because you're a famous, knowledgeable writer with a following of your own, LFL/Disney knows that selling a book with your name on it is gonna move copies. But they don't want to pay you all $300,000 up front. Instead, they tell you "We'll give you $200,000, plus you get 20% of all hard copy and digital sales." You put in a lot of time and effort. You spend a year on the project, get it all up to date. You're proud of your work. You're even ready to go tour to promote it.
Then -- catastrophe -- a month before the book is supposed to release in hard copy (which is supposed to precede offering the book for sale digitally), war breaks out. The wood that was going to be used for paper supplies is commandeered by the government for its own war efforts, and there simply isn't enough paper to do the print run. LFL/Disney delays the release for two years while waiting for the war to end and paper to come off the ration list. Then there's a cease-fire signed with a possibility for armistice pending negotiations. In that period, paper briefly comes off of ration listing, and the print run can go into effect.
There's just one catch. LFL/Disney, which had previously launched its own digital library app, is going to list *your* book as a *day 1* release on the library app. For people willing to pay at least a portion of what they would for a hard copy, they can download the book to their digital library within the app, and own it for as long as they remain on the app.
Moreover, your contract doesn't treat that as a "digital sale" explicitly. I mean, technically, it's
not a "sale." It's a temporary license while a user remains subscribed to the app. And LFL/Disney doesn't want to compensate you under the bonus structure to include that. And people -- let's say out of a sense of patriotic duty -- are only buying hard copy books occasionally, and are leaning far more towards digital copies these days. Or at least, a significant portion of the audience is. AND, this approach didn't exist when you and LFL/Disney negotiated the agreement in the first place; it's something that came into existence after the fact.
Does it seem fair to you that LFL/Disney can basically sneak around the terms of your agreement, claim there's a "loophole" and not pay you? Are you even 100% sure that their actions didn't also diminish the number of hard copies that would have otherwise been sold, even with the patriotic paper movement?
I think it's reasonable, under those circumstances, to try to sue if LFL/Disney won't negotiate with you to give you a favorable payout. You did the work. You signed for a specific deal. Then LFL/Disney undercut that deal by doing a side gig that will carve out a part of the money you would have earned.
There's an argument that she may be shooting herself in the foot, but I think there's an equal argument that the studios could be shooting themselves in their own feet as they try to cut the knees out from under their own deals with stars and short them by doing these day-one no-ticket-sale releases, especially if back-end payment is meant to be based on specific terms like ticket sales and/or digital sales. I know I'd be pissed if I were her. Or any of the WB stars, for that matter, thanks to the WB/HBOMax thing.
I mean, as a consumer, I love it, but if I were an actor with points on the deal, I'd be super goddamn pissed about it.