http://tinyurl.com/36y9vk
Tom & Rita's Big Fat Greek Lawsuit
by Natalie Finn
The little film that could may have resulted in the paycheck that never
was.
Tom Hanks, wife Rita Wilson and Nia Vardalos have sued one of their
fellow producers on the 2002 sleeper hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding,
claiming that they have yet to receive an unspecified share of the
film's net profits.
According to the complaint filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court
and obtained by E! News, Gold Circle Films still owes the plaintiffs a
percentage of the movie's theatrical, pay television, cable and home
video grosses, which the defendant maintains amounted to $287 million.
The film only cost about $5 million to make. (View the lawsuit.)
Industry tracker Box Office Mojo lists My Big Fat Greek Wedding's take
at theaters worldwide as $369 million, however. The culture-clash comedy
stars Vardalos‹who was more or less discovered by Hanks and Wilson when
they caught the one-woman play the film is based on‹as
spinster-turned-swan Toula, who gets engaged to a decidedly non-Greek
English professor, played by John Corbett. Family-friendly mayhem ensues.
Vardalos, who starred in the short-lived spinoff series My Big Fat Greek
Life, also penned the screenplay and earned an Oscar nomination for her
efforts.
The companies that filed suit on behalf of Hanks, Wilson, Vardalos and
producer Gary Goetzman state that Gold Circle "has acted willfully,
maliciously and in wanton disregard of plaintiffs' rights under the
agreements."
In response, Gold Circle VP Scott Niemeyer said in a statement that the
suit "lacks any merit."
"Gold Circle has fully complied with its contractual obligations and has
already paid plaintiffs a combined total of over $44 million in
profits," he said. "Gold Circle has never thwarted the producers' audit
rights."
--
"Anybody can direct. There are only 11 good writers."
‹ Mel Brooks
Movies