Disney CEO Defends New Hybrid Movie Release Model

Disney CEO, Bob Chapek, stands by the decision to make hybrid movie releases after Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit over Black Widow.

Bob Chapek spoke up and defended their method of hybrid release. This model consists in releasing movies on Diney+ and theaters simultaneously. The new statement comes after Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit against Disney for the hybrid release of Black Widow.

Chapek shared ,”We value flexibility in being able to make last-minute calls.” Due to the COVID pandemic, the CEO says that flexibility with days and dates is essential. “Certainly, when we planned, we didn’t anticipate the resurgence of Covid,” he added. Also, he claims that making decisions on a film-by-film basis is the correct course.

imagine if black widow had released in 2020 and there was no pandemic, the film would’ve been a hit

— tas (@ST4VENAT) August 15, 2021

The CEO never mentioned Johansson or Black Widow. But, in a lawsuit filed in late July, the actress claimed that the Walt Disney Company breached her contract by releasing the Marvel film on Disney+ Premier Access when released in theaters.

Chapek added in his statement that they are “trying to do the best thing for all our constituents and make sure that everybody who’s in the value chain feels like they’re having their contractual commitments honored both from a distribution and a compensation standpoint.”

Rented black widow and I’m not disappointed

— jose g (@JoseGrrarrow) August 16, 2021

“What I will say is that just like we’ve done many times before, as the business has evolved and transformed, we’ve figured out ways to fairly compensate our talent so that no matter what the business model is that we have to go to market with, everybody feels satisfied,” Disney CEO said.

anyway black widow was so good omg

— ur mom (she/her) (@notadramachanel) August 16, 2021

He went on to say that he and previous CEO, Bob Iger, decided about the hybrid method. He claims that the dual release strategy for some of this year’s films “was the correct strategy to enable us to reach the biggest possible audience.”

Chapek stated that COVID has “disrupted” the world, and we are all reacting to the rapid changes.