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Disney didn’t like Scarlett Johansson suing then. That’s a big no no. The Empire Struck Back with a vengeance.
Their official statement:
“There is no merit whatsoever to this filing. The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Disney has fully complied with Ms. Johansson’s contract and furthermore, the release of Black Widow on Disney+ with Premier Access has significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20M she has received to date.”
Wow. She’s also known to eat children, make fun of cancer patients, and spit into her guests’ food at dinner parties.
So Disney is not taking this well. It may give others ideas. And it’s not a good look for the family film company to be sued by a pregnant mother.
We are in uncharted waters here.
As far as Scarlett getting $20 million, if this goes to trial — which I doubt– we’ll find out a lot about that. Did she get it upfront? Is it an advance? Is she paid as much as Robert Downey, Jr? Or Tom Holland? Let’s see if this gets that far.
“Jungle Cruise” hits all the right notes and is a movie trip well worth taking. Based on the theme park ride, “Jungle Cruise” is a celebration of the ride; a cheeky, frolicky fun homage to “The African Queen,” “Romancing the Stone” and then throw in all what Disney does best.
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra “Jungle Cruise” stars the irrepressibly charismatic Dwayne Johnson as the skipper Frank Wolff, and the sardonic and marvelously deadpan Emily Blunt as Lily Houghton, a feminist Botanist on a mission.
The film is on solid terra ferma from the start as the chemistry between those two is off the charts charming and simply adorable. There is a wonderful turn by British comic Jack Whitehall who hilariously and poignantly plays Lily’s at-times snooty, loyal gay brother McGregor (his homosexuality is dealt with beautifully in the film.) Weave in the hapless sunburned boat-lord Nilo played by Paul Giamatti, the evil but misunderstood conquistador Aguirre played by Edgar Ramirez, and the evilest of them all, Prince Joachim–always loyal to his German Kaiser– played pitch perfectly by Jesse Plemons, the cast are all first-rate.
The twisty story is that wisecracking Skipper Frank, whom Lily insists on calling Skippy much to his annoyance, is enlisted by her to bring her and her brother down the treacherous Amazon to uncover an ancient tree whom it is said has magical healing properties. Frank is used to taking tourists with whom he has a captive audience for his borscht belt, cheesy type of humor. So the beginning of the trip is tricky is all. The trek and the saga that takes them to find the tree, avoid the bad guys and discover their love for each other.
Of course it’s a happy ending, this is Disney, and the ticket to a voyage of pure escapism. James Newton Howard’s score is majestic and fun, which is weaved in with nonstop action humor and plenty of scary parts too thanks to top notch CGI. The audience will surely have an entertaining time navigating their movie going fun!
“Jungle Cruise” is in theaters tonight, set for a big weekend, and on Disney Plus’s Premiere Access for 30 bucks.
Scarlett Johansson’s bold move, filing a lawsuit against Disney over “Black Widow,” could be trailblazing. It could also potentially hurt her with projects at that large studio. Will she wind up wearing a Scarlett letter?
All studios for decades and eons have proven to be vengeful when it comes to actors questioning anything. Back around 1990, Alec Baldwin called then Disney chief Jeffrey Katzenberg “one of the seven dwarves” in an interview and was banned from working there for a long, long time. (Alec was angry that his movie, “The Marrying Man” bombed.)
In her complaint, Scarlett alleges that Disney had a lot of time to rectify their decision to put “Black Widow” on Disney Plus, thereby reducing her potential salary.
The complaint reads:
“To maximize these receipts,and therebyprotect her financial interests,Ms. Johansson extracted apromisefrom Marvel that the release of the Picture would be a “theatricalrelease.”…Disney was well aware of this promise, but nonetheless directed Marvel to violate its pledge and instead release the Picture on the Disney+ streaming service the very same day it was released in movie theatres… Disney wanted to lure the Picture’s audience away from movie theatres and towards its owned streaming service, where it could keep the revenues for itself while simultaneously growing the Disney+ subscriber base, a proven way to boost Disney’s stock price. Second, Disney wanted to substantially devalue Ms. Johansson’s agreement and thereby enrich itself. In the months leading up to this lawsuit, Ms. Johansson gave Disney and Marvel every opportunity to right their wrong and make good on Marvel’s promise.“
Johansson says that “Disney and Marvel largely ignored Ms. Johansson, essentially forcingher to file this action.”
Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney-Marvel claiming “Black Widow” was only supposed to be released in theaters. She’s saying the Disney Plus simultaneous release violated her contract and cut into box office receipts.
“Disney intentionally induced Marvel’s breach of the agreement, without justification, in order to prevent Ms. Johansson from realizing the full benefit of her bargain with Marvel,” the suit says according to the Wall Street Journal.
This is war.
This is also brave of Scarlett. She’s taking a chance on cutting off doing business with all of Disney, which encompasses Marvel, Lucas Films, Searchlight and various off shoots of 20th Century Fox.
Disney wasn’t the only studio to launch simultaneous releases in theaters and on streaming since the pandemic made theater going sketchy. Warner Bros. has been releasing all its films on HBO Max at the same time. Disney is charging 30 bucks on Disney Plus for the likes of “Cruella” and “Jungle Cruise.” In he case of “Cruella,” the difference could be what it prevented the Emma Stone starrer from hitting $100 million.
“Black Widow” has made just $158 million domestically and a total worldwide of $318 million. It’s possible it could have made over $200 million in the US if it had just been in theaters.
What if everyone starts doing this?
“This will surely not be the last case where Hollywood talent stands up to Disney and makes it clear that, whatever the company may pretend, it has a legal obligation to honor its contracts,” said John Berlinski, an attorney at Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP who represents Ms. Johansson.
The main music dropping tonight is Prince’s “Welcome 2 America” album. We already have two songs from it– “Born 2 Die” and the title track. They are below.
Of course, I’m very excited about the whole album. Prince just shelved it at one point, and now we get to have it.
“Welcome 2 America” is already the number 1 album on Amazon.
Meanwhile, Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever” is number 11 on Amazon before release tonight.
More on Prince in a little while…
And PS maybe maybe we get a Tony Bennett- Lady Gaga single tonight. No actual news yet, but their concerts next week at Radio City are sold out. Tony turns 95 on Tuesday. The album is done. So…
I was very sorry to hear that Ron Popeil, the original TV pitchman and Rube Goldberg of our time, has passed away at age 86. I actually spent quite an evening with him years ago.
It was 1994 or 95, I was staying at the Chateau Marmont (not so expensive then) and covering the OJ Simpson trial. A bunch of friends and I had taken a large round table at Spago, the original version up on Horn Avenue above Sunset Boulevard and Tower Records in West Hollywood.
After a few cocktails and discussion of OJ, and my friend Dominick Dunne who was also staying at the Chateau and covering the trial so eloquently, I stood for moment. Looking out the big windows I could see a familiar face handing his car keys to the valet.
“Oh my god, it’s Ron Popeil, the guy with the spray on hair!” I cried. Indeed, Ron and his hair spray were then a constant on television, the infomercial of all time. As a long time victim of male pattern baldness, I’d sometimes, in the middle of the night, considered ordering a package from him.
I ran to the front door and stopped him with a jolly introduction and handshake. “Does that stuff really work?” I asked. He didn’t flinch. With a big smile, he responded, “It sure does. Wanna see?” He turned and ran down the hill, went to his car and returned with a kit containing all the necessary ingredients.
I doubt Wolfgang Puck remembers all this after 25 or more years but the restaurant was crowded and he was just greeting Hollywood legend Lloyd Bridges and his great actor son Beau Bridges as I returned to my table with Ron Popeil. There was a lot of excitement as we all collided. When the unfolding situation was explained, Lloyd Bridges — who I think of not from “Sea Hunt” but from “Airplane!” — said, “I want to see this!”
Ron and I quickly ran into the nearby men’s room, just beyond us on the main floor. I leaned over the sink in front of the mirror, and he took the cannister– which looked like the kind of spray paint you’d use for graffiti or applying on an outdoor aluminum table — and away he went. I do remember the odor was not pleasant, and the fibers that were emitted were heavy as they landed on virgin scalp, a small round spot on the top of my head that been growing larger, ominously, for several years.
I also remember laughing a lot, and Ron being very serious. I think he did actually say, “Now hold still.” I was worried about him getting the stuff on my nice suit jacket and white dress shirt (after all, I’d come from the courthouse downtown).
We emerged victorious, and returned to the table as the center of attention. Wolfgang, my guests, the Bridgeses, and anyone else who happened to be there, clapped as I showed off my new head of full, fake dark brown hair. There were no cameras, no phones, no cameras in phones, nothing to record it all. Just our memories, and Lloyd Bridges marveling at my head the way he’d looked with wonder in “Airplane!” after sniffing some coke.
Ron Popeil, I remember, was tall and very jolly, He smiled widely, lots of teeth, he was thrilled. He gave me the kit, I have no idea what happened to it, But we’d stopped the show at Spago, which was hard to do considering all the A listers going back and forth dining on smoked salmon pizzas and trying to make movie deals. My group was very impressed. A few of the women held up mirrors from their handbags.
“How does it feel?” they all kept asking. Well, it felt like I had a head of plastic.
What I do remember is getting back to the Chateau and standing under the shower nozzle in the old fashioned bathtub. As the water poured down on me, glops of brown gunk fell into the tub. For a moment the whole bottom of the tub was the color of Valhrona chocolate, which might have also been our dessert that night. It took a few minutes to wash it all off my head and then get it down the drain. Earlier martinis softened the blow. I was back to being bald.
So RIP Ron Popeil. I never saw him again, but we had a story I’ve dined out on ever since. It gave me a good anecdote to tell Dominick Dunne, whom I drove down to the courthouse the next morning. He had probably had had dinner with Johnny Cochran or Judge Ito, god knows. But I’d had a moment with Ron Popeil, inventor of the Pocket Fisherman at the hottest spot in town. And Lloyd Bridges was there! You couldn’t do better than that!
Beloved actor Bob Odenkirk is termed “stable” and with “good vital signs” after suffering a heart attack yesterday while shooting “Better Call Saul” in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
His son, Nate, Tweeted: “He’s going to be okay.”
Odenkirk was rushed to the hospital and there was a 24 hour blackout on news about him. But I spoke to one person this afternoon who told me they were very positive about reports on the actor. Then the family released a statement thanking everyone for their support and interest.
Odenkirk, who’s 59 years old, started as a writer on “Saturday Night Live” in the late 1980s and worked his way up through various sketch comedy shows until he hit the big time as Saul the lawyer in “Breaking Bad.” After 10 seasons, he was spun off into his own show, “Better Call Saul.” He was just starting to shoot the sixth and final season of “Saul.” Now it’s unclear what will happen but the show can wait until he’s in fine fettle again.
It’s hard to make a record when no one actually plays an instrument.
Kanye West’s producer, Mike Dean, has sent out an urgent message on Twitter. He writes:” does anyone now where I can buy an antelope Goliath hd gen 3 asap?”
Dean is presumably hunkered down at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta trying to piece together Kanye’s “Donda” album. The Goliath is a $7,000 audio interface. You can plug lots of stuff in it when you’re mixing and mastering an album, especially one made of different pieces.
Dean– a man who must have unlimited patience for mishegos— also posted a short video showing off his set up. He also Tweeted he’s “no hostage” — “I”m at home mixing.”
Just PS the cost of working on “Donda” at the stadium has to be astronomical. And that’s besides Kanye having a studio in Los Angeles, maybe a couple to choose from. Putting all those people up in Atlanta, paying the stadium rent, etc. Money is no object!
The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival is happening over Labor Day weekend, September 2nd-5th. The capacity for the Bonnaroo Farm is 90,000 people.
There is absolutely no information on the Festival website about COVID, the Delta variant, or masks. Nothing.
There seems to be no restriction whatsoever. Just come as you are. Maybe leave on a respirator. Who knows?
The festival takes place located just 60 miles southeast of Nashville in Manchester, Tennessee, a state not known for its smarts, frankly. Hidden in the middle of the Bonnaroo website is this vague wording: “Bonnaroo organizers as always will be in regular communication with local health and public safety officials and will continue to abide by relevant recommendations.”
And get this: tickets are sold out. The only tickets available are through re-sellers. People are dying to go. Headliners for the festival– who will be kept apart from the madding crowd — include Foo Fighters, Lizzo, Tame Impala, Lana del Rey, and Tyler the Creator.
But what the attendees don’t understand is, those artists are in, and out. They’re not hanging around for the weekend, or beyond their time on stage. My guess is Dave Grohl will sleep in his own bed after the show.
Feel like going to Tennessee? Below is the chart for current COVID numbers. It comes from the state’s website. Good luck!
The Rock world is mourning the loss of Dusty Hill, one third of ZZ Top, member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He and Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard comprised Texas’s best known trio, internationally loved. Dusty died in his sleep at age 72.
ZZ Top with their beards and raw crunching blues changed the world of music. Their first hit, which launched many, was Sam & Dave’s “I Thank You.” See below. RIP.
It was 1994 or 95, I was staying at the Chateau Marmont (not so expensive then) and covering the OJ Simpson trial. A bunch of friends and I had taken a large round table at Spago, the original version up on Horn Avenue above Sunset Boulevard and Tower Records in West Hollywood.
