Out Of This World Lawsuit: Battle Los Angeles Vs. Skyline
By
Lord_of_Time,
Posted on: 2010-08-17 10:07 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
By
Lord_of_Time,
Posted on: 2010-08-17 10:07 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
Battle: Los Angeles vs. Skyline. Here's the details via Deadline:
A real battle is brewing between rival aliens-invade-Los Angeles films Skyline and Battle: Los Angeles. Sony Pictures Entertainment, the studio behind the big budget Battle: Los Angeles, is exploring its legal options. At issue: Greg and Colin Strause, the owners of visual effects house Hydraulx, were paid millions of dollars to generate visual effects work for Battle: Los Angeles. But Hydraulx never informed SPE the siblings were directing a VFX-driven rival alien invasion feature that will hit theaters four months before SPE's March 12, 2011 release. SPE higher-ups discovered it was in a real horse race after Universal Pictures released a trailer that showed Los Angeles denizens being vacuumed into the sky by hovering space ships.
SPE lawyers have just started digging into the matter. This can be viewed as a Goliath vs. David story considering that the Strause brothers shot most of their film in an apartment, with the entire film costing a fraction of what SPE has spent for a full-scale alien battle film. But Skyline created strong buzz at Comic-Con that will give it a wide release through Relativity and Universal Pictures. Battle: Los Angeles could certainly have its thunder stolen. At issue: did Hydraulx and its owners owe SPE a heads-up?
And is SPE trying to create a legal issue with a film that can't afford it, to leverage a release date change that delays Skyline.
Skyline will be released November 12 by Universal. I'm told the questions that SPE legal are asking include whether Hydraulxs work on Battle: Los Angeles served as a springboard for Skyline, or gave the Strause brothers access to equipment that helped bolster the visual effects on their small budget film. SPEs position is that at minimum, the Hydraulx principals should have disclosed their intention to make the rival project, to avoid any conflict of interest issues. Expect the legal letters to begin flying shortly.
A rep for the Strause issued a statement: "Any claims of impropriety are completely baseless. This is a blatant attempt by Sony to force these independent filmmakers to move a release date that has long been set by Universal and Relativity and is outside the filmmakers' control." SPE declined comment as did Relativity.
Click HERE to read the rest.
I'm no lawyer, but it sounds like Sony just wants to make sure Skyline doesn't open before their movie and is doing whatever they can to make sure it stays way out of the way. I don't see how their claims of conflict of interest could possibly hold up in court. But if I knew anything about the law I'd be a scumbag lawyer making the big bucks instead of a scumbag internet writer who works for praise and food stamps.
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