Amazon is being sued by the screenwriter of the original 1989 Patrick Swayze movie. road house Regarding the suspicion of copyright infringement in the remake version of the movie, Los Angeles Times reported. Screenwriter R. Lance Hill has accused Amazon and MGM Studios of using AI to replicate the voices of actors in his new work in order to complete the work before the copyright expires.
Hill said he filed a complaint with the U.S. Copyright Office in November 2021 to regain rights to the original screenplay that will form the basis of the new film. At the time, the rights were owned by Amazon Studios as part of the MGM acquisition, and were scheduled to expire in November 2023. Mr Hill claims his rights will revert to him once the term expires.
According to the suit, Amazon Studios rushed the project to finish it before the copyright deadline. Hill claimed that Amazon used AI to “duplicate the voices” of the actors who appeared in the 2024 remake, as plans were hampered by an actors’ strike. Such use violated the terms of the union’s contracts with major studios, including Amazon.
This claim is complicated by the fact that Hill had a “works for hire” agreement with the original producers, United Artists. This effectively means that the studio that hires the artist is the owner and copyright holder of the work. But Hill dismissed it as “boilerplate” language often used in contracts.
The lawsuit seeks to block the release of the film, which was scheduled to close at SXSW on March 8 and then (controversially) be streamed directly on Prime Video on March 21. ing.
Amazon denies the claims, with a spokesperson saying: The Verge “The studio explicitly instructed the filmmakers not to use AI in this film,” he said, adding that even if AI was used, it was only in early versions of the film. The filmmakers were then instructed to remove “AI or non-SAG AFTRA actors” from the final version. It added that the other claims are “completely false” and that it believes it owns the original copyright. road house It has not yet expired.
