Chicago Movie Producer Hits Miramax with $10 Million Lawsuit

Miramax Film Corps has been slapped with a $10 million dollar lawsuit. One of the producers of the Oscar-winning smash Chicago has accused Miramax of failing to give over his company's percentage of the hundreds of millions of dollars that the film made at the box office.

"The Producer Circle Co. says in its lawsuit it is the owner of the film rights to the musical Chicago, a Broadway hit of the 1970s that Miramax agreed to produce with PCC as a movie. PCC said it was to receive part of the film's gross," according to an article in the Omaha World-Herald. Martin Richards is the founder and principal of PCC; he claims that as co-producer with Miramax founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein (who are no longer with that company), he is entitled to his share of what was the most profitable movie ever made by Miramax. While the case does state the exact amount that PCC earned from its part in producing Chicago, it appears to have been a million dollars or less.

Chicago grossed $170,687,518 domestically and made more than $300 million total. "While PCC is unable to determine with precision the amounts that it is owed, it estimates that Miramax' breach of contract has cost it no less than $10 million," stated court papers for the case. Richards and PCC also accuse Miramax of cheating them with a "net profits" deal instead of the more lucrative "gross profits" deal. With the former, producers are given the money left over after film expenses and deductions--which is generally very little. In addition, PCC claims that "Miramax has shortchanged PCC by not accounting for DVD sales, foreign distribution and other sources of income."

Starring Renee Zellweger as Roxie Hart, Catherine Zeta Jones (who won an Oscar for her work) as Velma Kelly, Richard Gere as Billy Flynn, Queen Latifah as Matron "Mama" Morton and John C. Reilly as Amos Hart, Chicago won six Academy Awards in addition to its box office success--including one for Best Picture. With a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb and directed by Rob Marshall, the lavish, dark-toned movie musical featured a screenplay by Bill Condon, who adapted it from the libretto of Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse (who in turn based the musical's book of the play by Maurine Watkins). The impetus for the movie musical came from the success of Walter Bobbie and Ann Reinking's still-running Broadway revival; Chicago, with direction and choreography by Fosse, originally opened in 1975.

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