July was a busy month for Disney+. It opened with Black Widow, which had fans waiting to see since 2004, and ended with The Rock's attempt to take on the Mummy franchise, with a lawsuit sprinkled somewhere in the middle.
But, it was all worth it!
According to our estimates, Disney+ added $49M of net revenue to its bottom line from the U.S. alone in July. The biggest month of revenue in the app's history, and a 29% increase over June.
That also lead it to catch up to HBO Max in our monthly rankings by revenue for the month.
So, back to that lawsuit for a minute.
Scarlett Johansson, aka Black Widow, is suing Disney for taking a hit on box-office revenue by streaming it on Disney+ at the same time. That lost Scarlett, who's getting by a percentage of box-office revenue, a considerable chunk of change, according to her lawsuit.
Zooming out a bit, this puts an interesting spin on the streaming race and the costs associated with getting traction. I've shared my thoughts on the importance of getting on as many devices early because viewers will eventually pick a small number of apps and stick with them. It looks like Disney understands this and needs growth at all costs.
I don't know if Scarlett will win her case, but I'm pretty sure lawyers for many actors are going to be busy updating agreements to include streaming revenue, which will make growth even more costly.
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