Emma Stone’s Potential Lawsuit Against Disney Seems Highly Unlikely After She Signed On For “Cruella 2”
Scarlett Johansson took a can of lighter fluid to the bridge she had with Marvel and Disney when she sued Disney for breach of contract over the simultaneous release of Black Widow in theaters and on Disney+. The move allegedly cost Scarlett millions of dollars in bonuses and she came after them hard, to which Disney tried to deflect just as hard. And Emma Stone, whose film Cruella got the same simultaneous release treatment, was reportedly thinking of suing them as well. Well, put a lid on that story because Emme just signed on for Cruella 2!
Rumor had it that Emma was considering filing her own breach of contract lawsuit against Disney, even though it had already been said that a sequel was in early development with the original director, Craig Gillespie, and the original writer, Tony McNamara, both returning. Cruella was pretty successful, getting good reviews and earning more than $221 million worldwide. After rumors of Emma’s potential lawsuit came out it seems that Disney scrambled to find a number she would appreciate because Deadline says that Emma has officially closed a deal to star in the sequel. You normally don’t sue people you continue to work for, so it looks like that puts an end to any potential lawsuits. Sources say that the deal, “mutually benefits both sides especially at a time when Disney is still assessing the dynamic window model on its event titles.”
Emma’s talent agency, Endeavor, said a bit about the deal through their executive chairman, Patrick Whitesell:
“While the media landscape has been disrupted in a meaningful way for all distributors, their creative partners cannot be left on the sidelines to carry a disproportionate amount of the downside without the potential for upside. This agreement demonstrates that there can be an equitable path forward that protects artists and aligns studios’ interests with talent. We are proud to work alongside Emma and Disney, and appreciate the studio’s willingness to recognize her contributions as a creative partner. We are hopeful that this will open the door for more members of the creative community to participate in the success of new platforms.”
I’m glad that Disney opened up their wallets enough to get Emma all the zeroes she wanted in order to give them only one lawsuit from an Asian-American white woman to deal with. And it couldn’t have been cheap, Emma is a new mom now–she’s got a mouth to feed! But I wonder how much it will cost to get Emma Thompson back into her torturous underwear for the sequel?
Pic: Disney