Alleging "greed" against the studio, Stallone is framing the lawsuit as a crusade against accounting practices of major film studios.
Screen legend Sylvester Stallone is reportedly suing Warner Bros. over profits he claims are owed to him regarding the 1993 science-fiction film Demolition Man, alleging “dishonest” accounting practices against the studio.
Through his loan-out company Rogue Marble, the film veteran filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday (April 12th). Stallone claims that the film made at least $125 million at the box office when it was released 24 years ago, and he is therefore entitled to 15% of that figure, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Sylvester Stallone is suing Warner Bros. over 'Demolition Man' profits
The suit apparently claims that “motion picture studios are notoriously greedy” and Warner Bros. “sat on the money owed” for years “without any justification”. He is seeking a full accounting of the film’s losses and gains, and interest and damages.
It also claims that Stallone’s representatives raised the issue of payments with the studio three years ago, but they were apparently told that they didn't owe him anything because Demolition Man had lost $66.9m. Stallone then queried this, and in April 2015 the studio sent Stallone a cheque for $2.8m.
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“Warner Bros. just sat on the money owed to Rogue Marble for years and told itself, without any justification, that Rogue Marble was not owed any profits,” the suit specifically alleges.
There’s another dimension to this, with Stallone claiming to be going in to bat for other movie stars and companies in his position, vowing to “end” the practices in the industry that the lawsuit alleges, on behalf of “all talent who expect to be paid by Warner Bros. for the fruits of their labour.”
Warner Bros. has not yet officially commented on the lawsuit as of the time of writing.
Demolition Man was a well-received sci-fi movie in which Stallone starred alongside Wesley Snipes as a policeman and criminal who are cryogenically frozen and revived in a future-world in which crime is non-existent.
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