Screenwriter Lance Hill filed a lawsuit against Amazon on Tuesday, seeking to halt the upcoming remake of the 1989 film “Road House,” claiming that the film infringes on his rights in the original screenplay.
According to the lawsuit filed in a California federal court, Hill alleges that Amazon proceeded with the remake without obtaining a license for his screenplay after he reclaimed the copyright.
He is seeking unspecified monetary damages and a court order to prevent Amazon from distributing the movie without obtaining a new license.
The remake, featuring Jake Gyllenhaal, is scheduled to premiere at the South by Southwest festival in Texas on March 8 and subsequently be available on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming platform on March 21.
An Amazon MGM Studios spokesperson dismissed the lawsuit as “completely without merit.” Hill’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, emphasized the importance of major studios respecting the rights of creators.
According to the lawsuit, Hill authored the “Road House” screenplay in 1986 and transferred his rights to the film’s producer, United Artists, later that year. U.S. copyright law permits artists to terminate transfers and reclaim their rights under certain circumstances.
Hill claims he notified Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the owner of United Artists, in 2021 that he was reclaiming his rights.
Allegedly, MGM disputed Hill’s ability to reclaim the copyright. Amazon acquired MGM in March 2022. Hill asserts that he regained his copyright in November, and Amazon set a deadline for completing the film the day before the termination took effect.
Hill claims that Amazon employed “extreme measures” to meet the deadline, including using artificial intelligence to replicate actors’ voices during a Screen Actors Guild strike, completing the movie in January.
Amazon’s spokesperson denied the use of AI in place of actors’ voices in the remake.
