Disney reportedly lost a colossal sum due to the Black Widow hack. The losses would be estimated at $ 600 million!
The bill is salty … We know the consequences that piracy can have on the success of a film in theaters, but it is rarer to have quantified data.
The note would amount to a $ 600 million loss for Black Widow, released this summer. This estimate, made by our colleagues at Deadline, gives an idea of the extent of the leakage of a film by streaming and illegal downloading.
Piracy on the rise in France since the Covid crisis
According to sources from the American site, 20 million illegal downloads were made against the film. According to their calculations, with an access cost on Disney + of $ 30, this would imply that Black Widow would have lost $ 600 million at its global box office. A figure to be compared with the 379 million box office generated worldwide … The consequences are therefore very serious.
As a reminder, Black Widow was released simultaneously in cinema and on the Disney + platform with premium access in the United States, after several months of postponement linked to the pandemic. It was for Disney to try a new exit strategy for this film, in times of Covid, but which at the same time thus encouraged piracy, the film being much easier to download illegally in high quality.
Black Widow: Scarlett Johansson files a complaint against Disney for having released the film on Disney +
Remember also that Scarlett Johansson had also expressed her anger due to this online broadcast. She accused the studio of failing to honor its contract by simultaneously releasing the Marvel film in theaters and on Disney + in the United States.