From courtroom dramas to behind-the-scenes battles, Hollywood's legal woes are often more dramatic than the movies themselves! Join us as we explore recent films that landed in hot legal water. From copyright claims to contract disputes, these productions faced serious consequences when the cameras stopped rolling. Which lawsuit surprised you the most?
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00:00Do you love him? I did. Do you love him now?
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most infamous times
00:08modern movies and those connected to them were slapped with a lawsuit.
00:11Oh, stop it! Don't tell me to stop!
00:16To make the list, the film must have been released in the last 10 years, from 2015 onwards.
00:20Number 10. The Estate Lawsuit, Top Gun Maverick
00:2336 years after the original smash hit, 2022 saw the release of Top Gun Maverick.
00:28Just wave and smile. Just wave and smile.
00:32While it dominated at the box office, behind the scenes, Paramount Pictures wasn't having a good
00:36time. After all, it was issued with a lawsuit from the estate of Ehud Yonai. He'd originally
00:41written an article in a magazine in 1983 on which the first film is based. However, while he's since
00:46passed away, Yonai's family believed the copyright had expired in 2020, and the rights reverted to
00:51them. This would just sort of be basic blocking and tackling in terms of copyright. So I don't
00:56know how they could have overlooked something like that.
00:58They also alleged Paramount knew this and had ignored it. However, the studio claimed production
01:02was completed before the 35-year copyright law expired. In 2024, a judge dismissed the suit.
01:08Let's start running. Yeah, run, run.
01:10Number 9. Producer Problem, The Deb
01:13Based on the musical, Rebel Wilson made her film directing debut with 2024's The Deb.
01:17However, rather than celebrate this achievement,
01:19the film was upstaged by the drama behind the scenes before it was released.
01:23Help us break down what on earth is going on here.
01:26Well, she's angry and she's disappointed. Nobody is denying that.
01:30Wilson dropped a video on Instagram criticizing some of its producers by claiming they blocked
01:34the production's viewing at the Toronto Film Festival, harassed the lead Charlotte McInnes,
01:39and embezzled money from its budget.
01:40So to have the joy of the movie being selected
01:44is one thing. But then to have the business partners that are involved in that movie
01:50turn around and say that, no, the movie can't premiere, um, is just beyond devastating.
02:00Yikes.
02:00However, McInnes then issued a statement against Wilson's allegations.
02:04Life is crazy hard with the daily limit on your credit card.
02:09Regardless, this led to the producers issuing a defamation lawsuit against Wilson,
02:13who soon responded with a countersuit. In November 2024, Wilson attempted to
02:17get the producer's suit thrown out, but it wasn't successful.
02:24Number 8. The missing actor. Yesterday.
02:27Have you ever watched a film's trailer, been inspired to watch it,
02:29and then felt the trailer was misleading?
02:31So check out this scenario. If you don't like the movie after seeing the trailer,
02:35you might be able to sue.
02:37Well, if so, you have something in common with Connor Wolfe and Peter Rosa.
02:412019's Yesterday featured a trailer that had Cuban-Spanish actor Ana de Armas.
02:46However, her character was dropped from the final cut.
02:53Yet Wolfe and Rosa based their online $3.99 rental of the movie on de Armas' involvement.
02:58In 2022, the duo issued a lawsuit against the movie's distributor, Universal Pictures,
03:03for $5 million.
03:04Universal wants it all thrown out, but a judge has just decided that the suit can proceed,
03:09subject to the California false advertising law.
03:12While the suit rocked the industry with fears that others could do the same,
03:15in 2023 a judge dismissed the case.
03:18In 2024, Wolfe and Rosa settled with Universal for legal fees.
03:27Number 7. Not-So-Happy Copyright Day.
03:30Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day to you.
03:32The 2017 slasher comedy film Happy Death Day became a surprise hit at the box office.
03:38Like a messed-up Groundhog Day,
03:40it features the baby-faced killer wearing an unsettling infant-esque mask.
03:47While for the NBA team, the New Orleans Pelicans, that creepy mask seemed very familiar.
03:52Designed by Johnson Berticelli, King Cake Baby is the team's seasonal mascot.
03:56It's the battle of the babies.
04:01Upon seeing the similar design in Happy Death Day and its sequel, Happy Death Day to You,
04:05Berticelli issued a lawsuit against distributor Universal Pictures and
04:09production company Blumhouse Productions for copyright infringement.
04:12The lawsuit outlined several photos to do a side-by-side comparison between both babies,
04:17looking at head shape, eye shape, and the mouth.
04:20There's also a photo to show what the King Cake Baby will look like with a hoodie on.
04:24He sought half of the net proceeds from both films and 50% interest in all future distributions.
04:29In 2021, the case was settled out of court.
04:34Number 6. Roadhouse AI.
04:35Roadhouse.
04:36In 2023, the screen business was rocked when the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes took place.
04:43Along with various issues, one concern was the use of artificial intelligence taking over from
04:52humans in production. Well, after the Roadhouse reboot in 2024, that issue seemingly came back
04:57into play. Shortly before its release on Amazon Prime, the screenwriter for the original 1989
05:06version, R. Lance Hill, issued a suit against Amazon Studios and production company Metro
05:11Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures. He claimed the film had violated copyright law, and to get around the
05:16SAG-AFTRA strike, to meet a deadline, had used AI to replicate actors' voices.
05:20And whether they used AI or not, we don't have all the information from both sides of the story,
05:28so it's likely they potentially could have used AI as a rough cut,
05:33because if you look at the timeline, potentially, the lead actors were actually on strike.
05:39Amazon responded with a countersuit, claiming Hill knew he didn't have the rights to the
05:43franchise, as he was a work-for-hire employee.
05:45This piano's out of tune.
05:47Sounds pretty good to me.
05:52After Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created the comic book character of Superman in 1938,
05:57the duo was locked in a constant lawsuit battle against DC Comics and Warner Bros.
06:02for copyrights to the characters.
06:08Even after Siegel and Shuster passed away in 1996 and 1992 respectively,
06:13their estates have taken on the mission. With 2025 set to release the newest cinematic
06:18version of Superman, Shuster's estate issued a suit against Warner Bros. Discovery to block
06:23its distribution in some territories, claiming that international laws meant the rights to
06:27certain territories belonged to them.
06:29This may settle before July, which is how a lot of these things go.
06:34Or it may continue in the courts, in which case it's very unlikely to be resolved by July.
06:40WBD and DC have since requested the suit be dismissed,
06:44citing their belief this issue had already been resolved in their long legal history.
06:51When 2016's Moana dropped, many liked the original approach Disney took.
06:55But not Buck Woodall. After all, he claims he made a script and trailer in the 2000s
07:11called Bucky, which followed a Polynesian teen defying parental expectations and going on a
07:16voyage. He'd shown the project to Jerry Marchik, the former Mandeville Films director of
07:25development, who had a first-look deal with Disney. In 2020, Woodall tried to sue those
07:29involved previously. It was dismissed due to exceeding the statute of limitations on copyright.
07:34Well, with Moana 2, Woodall issued a copyright claim requesting $10 billion in damages,
07:40plus 2.5% of the film's future revenue and related products.
07:43The lawsuit points to similarities including the Polynesian belief of ancestors manifested
07:48as animals, the protagonist's journey starting with a turtle, and a demigod with a giant hook
07:53and tattoos.
07:54However, the trial's jury sided with Disney.
08:06With 2021's Black Widow, Scarlett Johansson was probably hoping for an emotional farewell
08:11to the character she'd portrayed for over a decade. While she did get that,
08:20although anger and betrayal weren't the emotions she was probably looking for.
08:23Due to the pandemic, Black Widow's release was delayed several times.
08:26However, while being shown in cinemas, it also went to the streaming service Disney+.
08:31The spark Johansson has sued the company as her contract stated the release would be in
08:34cinemas only and she would get a hefty portion of its box office.
08:37The lawsuit filed Thursday says,
08:39With the bulk of Ms. Johansson's compensation being tied to box office receipts,
08:43Disney knew that the cannibalization of such receipts by Disney Plus would save Marvel,
08:48and by extension Disney, very large amounts of money that it would otherwise owe Ms. Johansson.
08:54In her view, the streaming decision would slash her potential earnings.
08:57A couple of months later, the suit was settled, with Johansson reportedly getting $40 million.
09:07Number 2. The Stuntwoman Suit. Resident Evil The Final Chapter.
09:11Stunt performers are the backbone of the film industry.
09:14One such person is Olivia Jackson. In 2015, she was performing a last-minute motorbike
09:19stunt in bad weather, filling in for star Mila Jovovich on Resident Evil The Final Chapter.
09:24However, when a camera crane failed to move, Jackson crashed into it.
09:28The South African suffered many horrible injuries, and it was touch and go whether she'd pull through.
09:32Thankfully, Jackson did. However, due to the severity of the injury to her left arm,
09:36it had to be amputated.
09:37And she suffered numerous other injuries, including spinal fractures and brain bleeds.
09:42In 2019, Jackson sued the film's producers for prioritizing cost-cutting over cast and
09:47crew safety, as well as misleading her on the coverage and the production's insurance.
09:51In 2020, she won the case in a South African court.
09:54Now she and her attorneys are calling for change in Hollywood,
09:57hoping her loss will prevent others from experiencing tragedy.
10:01I'd love to make everybody aware of these situations like this,
10:05so that they can take better care of themselves again, so that it doesn't happen again.
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10:261. The Chaotic Lawsuit โ It Ends With Us
10:29No film's release has been as vastly overshadowed by what went on behind the scenes as 2024's
10:35It Ends With Us. Shortly after its debut, director-actor Justin Baldoni was missing
10:43from events as reports stated there was a rift between him and co-star Blake Lively.
10:48There were claims Baldoni had body-shamed Lively and committed several misconduct actions.
10:53With these reports, the director hired a PR crisis team to cope with the scandal.
10:57Several months after the film's release, Lively issued a legal complaint against
11:00Baldoni for harassment, as she claimed he was behind a campaign to discredit her.
11:04This led to her suing Baldoni in 2025.
11:07It is a classic example of workplace harassment that goes unchecked, particularly with the
11:14level of power that Baldoni had in his role as not only lead actor, but also as a producer on
11:22the film, a director, and also a co-chairman and co-founder of the studio that was directly
11:29involved with the film. The director fired back with a countersuit, requesting $400 million from
11:34Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds. Like the Yesterday fans, if you could sue
11:38any film for a misleading trailer, which production would you pick? Let us know below!
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