Variety has an interesting article which says actor Warren Beatty is suing newspaper publisher Tribune Co. claiming he still has film rights to Dick Tracy and has plans for a second film in the works.
Beatty, who starred in and directed the 1990 film “Dick Tracy,” based on the classic comicstrip, is seeking a ruling that he still owns film and other rights, plus $30 million in damages. The damage figure presumably is based on the profit Beatty expects to see from a sequel. Domestic box office for the film in 1990 was $100 million, making it the ninth highest-grossing film of that year.
According to the complaint, filed in L.A. Superior Court by Beatty’s longtime attorney Bert Fields, Tribune assigned film, television and other rights in Dick Tracy to Beatty in a 1985 agreement. The assignment was subject to a complex, multistep reversion process, which Tribune would be required to follow for it to recapture the rights.
Stay tuned for more on this as it comes in.
Source: Variety