The original “Roadhouse” screenwriter has entered the octagon with Amazon Studios and MGM, at least in a legal battle. The Los Angeles Times first reported that screenwriter R. Lance Hill, who uses the pseudonym David Lee Henry, is suing Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and parent company Amazon Studios for copyright infringement. filed a lawsuit against the other party.
Hill wrote the script for the original film Road House in 1986. This movie was released in 1989. Hill said that the copyright to “Road House” will be returned to him by United Artists in November 2023, and that he plans to restore the copyright to United Artists and its successor company in November 2021. He said that he had been notified. In the script for “Roadhouse.” He says he has filed a “statutory termination notice” that complies with copyright law.
Hill further states that Amazon/MGM was aware of the copyright timeline and worked to complete the film using artificial intelligence during the SAG-AFTRA strike. According to the complaint, Amazon “took extreme measures to meet this November 10, 2023 deadline, including the use of AI (artificial intelligence), at significant additional cost” to recreate user testimonials. It is said that Actor in 2024 remake. The film was completed in January 2024, two months after Hill’s stated November 2023 copyright deadline.
Amazon stands firm on its position.
“The lawsuit filed by R. Lance Hill today regarding ‘Road House’ is completely baseless and many of the claims are demonstrably false,” an Amazon MGM Studios spokesperson told IndieWire. “His AI was not used in place of the actor’s voice in this film. We look forward to defending ourselves against these claims.”
Amazon/MGM previously denied to IndieWire that it used AI to finalize the production of “Roadhouse.” The denial comes after Joel Silver, who produced the original 1989 film, said he was fired from the new “Roadhouse” for “raising concerns” about its use of artificial intelligence.
People close to the production of Road House (2024) say that if AI was used anywhere during production (or post-production), it was done in the early cuts by the filmmakers. He said it would be. They controlled the editing, not the studio. This source claims that Amazon/MGM Studios has explicitly instructed filmmakers not to use AI in their films and to remove any AI or non-SAG-AFTRA actors used to complete the film. He even said he advised filmmakers.
The source also said the copyright suspension outlined in Hill’s application likely would not be valid.
Under the Copyright Act, an author has a deadline of “5 years starting 35 years after the date on which the rights were transferred” to terminate the studio contract, and can give notice of termination at any time up to two years before the effective end date. It is stipulated thatHill’s 2021 application was just two years away from 2023 production. Start date for new ‘Roadhouse’ remake.
Amazon owns the rights to “Roadhouse” (1989) through its acquisition of MGM Libraries. Hill says he ignored the script’s copyright.
“Instead, Defendants quickly proceeded to produce a remake of the 1989 film ‘Roadhouse’ based on that script,” the lawsuit states. “Despite the 2024 remake clearly exploiting the screenplay, Defendants made no attempt to secure new film licenses and ancillary rights.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, the legal question between Hill’s “Road House” copyright claim is whether Hill’s original screenplay was written “on spec” with plans to sell it to studios, or It all depends on whether Hill had a contract with United Artists. When the script was completed.
“Hill had no employment or contractual relationship with United Artists at the time he wrote the screenplay,” the suit states. “Rather, United Artists won the Hill grant in 1986, long after the script was completed.”
Hill’s lawsuit seeks to block distribution of the film, which is scheduled to be released streaming-only on Amazon’s Prime Video on March 21st. “Road House” will open the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival. Director Doug Liman has already publicly announced that he is “protesting” the film’s release, citing the lack of a theatrical release.
