quote:

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Michael Moore's Westside Production shingle on Monday sued Harvey and Bob Weinstein, alleging the brothers committed "classic Hollywood accounting tricks" to cheat the director out of earnings for 2004 documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11."

"Although Westside and Moore delivered an award-winning film that achieved major box office success, (The Fellowship Adventure Group) has failed and refused to share equally the fruits of the venture as the partners had agreed," claims Moore in the suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The "Bowling for Columbine" director is seeking more than $2.7 million in damages.

"It's hogwash," said Weinstein attorney Bert Fields, adding that he'll look to take the case to trial. "Mr. Moore knows that he has received every dime to which he's entitled ... I cannot wait to get Mr. Moore on the witness stand."

The suit names as the plaintiff the Weinsteins' The Fellowship Adventure Group, which was set up in the wake of Disney's announcement that it would not release "Fahrenheit 9/11" through its Miramax banner.

"Fahrenheit" is the highest-grossing docu of all time with more than $220 million at the box office.

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 02-08-2011, 06:18 AM:
 
Sounds about right. That's why Marlon Brando asked for 2 million dollars outright instead of points when he made LAST TANGO IN PARIS; it was considered a scandelous demand at the time. Everyone criticized him for it and then he finally explained that he had been burned by studios' "creative accounting" so often that he decided that he wanted his money up front.

I remember when ALIEN was playing to phenomenal box office and two of the young producers were on the Tonite Show, they told the story of how they were like giddy kids when the Broadway theatre, the National I think, had to keep adding late shows to accommodate the crowds until finally there were lines even around the block for the 3am show.

He said they were so excited they would drive out at night to see the crowds snaked around the block of the theatre. Then at the end of the week they would call the Fox accounting department to ask how much their take was that week. The accountant would tell them some paltry sum. The were in disbelief; they asked how was that possible as the theatre was doing sold out business and running continuous shows nearly 24 hours a day, closing only in the morning long enough to clean. It was explained to them that they shouldn't be fooled by the lines around the block -- it's the high cost of distribution that unfortunately was eating up a good deal of the gross. He said it seemed that no matter what the weekly grosses were, coincidently that was just about what the week's distribution costs came to.

I hope Moore isn't going into court thinking that there is only one set of books in the Weinstein Group's accounting office.
 

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Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 02-08-2011, 09:48 AM:
 
Another example was Art Buchwald suing Paramount over Coming To America, a movie which cost about $40million and grossed about $300million worldwide, but never turned a "profit." Buchwald won, but I think when it was all said and done he lost money. He could afford it and only did it to make the point.

Hollywood bookkeeping is the living proof of the old joke:
How much is 2+2?
How much do you want it to be?
 

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Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 02-08-2011, 10:15 AM:
 
There was a good book written about the Buchwald vs. Paramount deal.
FATAL SUBTRACTION: The Inside Story of Buchwald V. Paramount.

Frank, When ALIEN opened on May 25, 1979 in Times Square, it played at the Criterion Theatre.
 

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Posted by Greg Anderson (Member # 235) on 02-08-2011, 10:29 AM:
 
I smell another "documentary" from Michael Moore about this. He'll get his money's worth out of this.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 02-08-2011, 02:20 PM:
 

quote: Frank Angel

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I hope Moore isn't going into court thinking that there is only one set of books in the Weinstein Group's accounting office.

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quote: Mark M.

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There's a punchline here about Michael Moore and Capitalism, but I can't put my finger on it.

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