Stallone suing Warner Bros for ‘fraud’ and ‘dishonesty’
LOS ANGELES: Actor Sylvester Stallone is suing Warner Brothers for “fraud and dishonesty” over alleged intentional concealing of profits from “Demolition Man”.
He is seeking to “end” bad accounting practices on Warners’ part “for all talent.”
In the 1993 science-fiction fi lm “Demolition Man”, Stallone’s character is brought out of a decades-long state of cryopreservation to pursue a nemesis. The actor himself has now wakened from a slumber of a different kind to take on Warner.
On Wednesday, through his loan- out company Rogue Marble, Stallone fi led contract and fraud claims against the studio. In a complaint lodged in Los Angeles Superior Court, he alleges that the participation statement doesn’t make sense while demanding a fuller accounting on “Demolition Man”, which also starred Wesley Snipes and Sandra Bullock. The fi lm made about US$ 58 million at the box office and much more in home video sales.
In taking on Warner Bros., Stallone is fi ghting the same studio that distributed 2015’s “Creed”, which earned him an Oscar nomination. But the 70-year- old actor believes the time is right and is making a stab at doing something about “Hollywood Accounting” with the stated intention of helping others in the creative community.
“The motion picture studios are notoriously greedy,” states the complaint. “This one involves outright and obviously intentional dishonesty perpetrated against an international iconic talent. Here, WB decided it just wasn’t going to account to Rogue Marble on the Film. WB just sat on the money owed to Rogue Marble for years and told itself, without any justification, that Rogue Marble was not owed any profits. When a representative of Rogue Marble asked for an accounting, WB baulked and then sent a bogus letter asserting the Film was US$ 66,926,628 unrecouped. When challenged about this false accounting, it made a double-talk excuse, then prepared an actual profit participation statement for the same reporting period, and sent a cheque for US$ 2,820,000 because the Film had in fact recouped its deficit.”
According to the lawsuit, Stallone got 15 per cent of defi ned gross once the picture earned US$ 125 million. When “Demolition Man” earned more than US$ 200 million, his take would escalate to 17.5 per cent, and when it surpassed US$ 250 million, his profit participation would climb to 20 per cent.
“Demolition Man”, states the complaint, achieved at least US$ 125 million, so Stallone asserts he’s entitled to at least 15 per cent.
Stallone says that after 1997, he got no profit participation statements until his agent reached out to Warners in 2014 to inquire.
Warner Bros. had no comment.