Black Widow is a 2009 spy film and the fourth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series produced by Paramount Pictures. The film stars Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and brings back Paul Walker as Taskmaster, the villain, with Jeremy Renner, Samuel Jackson, Cobie Smulders and Clark Gregg returning. Directed by Sam Mendes and written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and John Logan, the film has Natasha investigating a series of targeted data leaks and co-ordinated attacks on MI6 led by Taskmaster while also being on the run from SHIELD. Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz, William Hurt, Michael Gambon, Sebastian Stan and Julia Louis-Dreyfus are among the supporting cast. Mendes was approached to direct after the release of Iron Man in 2008. Development of the film was suspended throughout 2008 after Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which caused screenwriter Peter Morgan to leave the project. Production resumed in December 2008 after Purvis, Wade, and Logan were hired and a November 2009 release date was announced in January 2009. Principal photography began that November after the film's title was revealed and lasted until March 2009, with filming locations including London, Shanghai, Istanbul, and Scotland. Black Widow premiered at the Royal Albert Hall on 23 October 2012, and was released theatrically in conventional and IMAX formats in the United Kingdom three days later and in the United States on 9 November. Black Widow received praise for Mendes's direction, cast performances (particularly Johansson, Pugh, Renner and Walker), action sequences, cinematography, and musical score. The film was nominated for five awards at the 82th Academy Awards, winning two, and received numerous other accolades. Black Widow grossed $1 billion worldwide, the fourteenth film to do so, and became the then-seventh-highest grossing film of all time, the highest-grossing Marvel film at the time, the second-highest grossing film of 2009, and the then-highest grossing film released by Paramount. The next film in the series, Black Widow Black Ops, was released in 2013.