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Hill said in the California federal court lawsuit that Amazon
never received a license to remake his screenplay after he
reclaimed his copyright in it. He requested an unspecified
amount of monetary damages and a court order to block Amazon
from distributing the movie without a new license.
The remake, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, is set to debut at the
South by Southwest festival in Texas on March 8 and then move to
Amazon's Prime Video streaming platform on March 21.
An Amazon MGM Studios spokesperson said the lawsuit was
"completely without merit."
Hill's attorney, Marc Toberoff, said that major studios should
"respect the fundamental rights and artistry of creators on
whose sweat and toil their empires are based."
The lawsuit said Hill wrote the "Road House" screenplay in 1986
and transferred his rights to the film's producer United Artists
later that year.
U.S. copyright law allows artists to terminate transfers and
reclaim their rights after decades in some circumstances. Hill
told the court that he notified Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which owns
United Artists, in 2021 that he was reclaiming his rights to the
screenplay.
MGM allegedly responded that Hill could not reclaim the
copyright.
Amazon acquired MGM in March 2022. Hill said he regained his
copyright last November, and that Amazon set a deadline to
finish the film the day before the termination became effective.
Hill said Amazon took "extreme measures" to meet the deadline,
including using artificial intelligence to recreate actors'
voices during a Screen Actors Guild strike, but did not finish
the movie until January.
Amazon's spokesperson denied that the remake uses any AI in
place of actors' voices.
(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by David
Bario and Bill Berkrot)
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