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August 08, 2005
IP Oversight Costs "Dukes of Hazzard" $17.5 Million
Acccording to MTV.com, "The Dukes of Hazzard" made more than $30.5 million last weekend, placing it in the number one spot. However, the intellectual property debacle behind the scenes has been less publicized by the studio.
As you probably know, the movie was based on a popular television show from the 1970s. What you may not know is that the television show was based on a little known 1974 movie, Moonrunners
. Warner Brothers attained the rights to make the movie into a television series in 1978. According to a lawsuit earlier this year, the movie rights remained with the producer of the original movie. In fact, a preliminary injunction ordered Warner Brothers to cease marketing and postpone the release until the issue was resolved. Since Warner had already spent $53 million making the movie and had started the $30 million advertising push, settlement was definitely an option.
In the end, the copyright holder obtained $17.5 million for the rights to a movie that nobody has seen. Of course, if I come upon Moonrunners in the future, you can bet I'll watch now.
The moral of the story? Be sure you actually hold the intellectual property rights before you spend huge sums of money to produce anything, whether it be a movie, a production facility, or any other large scale project.
For more, see How a lingering legal issue threatened 'Dukes of Hazzard' or Dukes Pays $17 Million for Lawsuit.
Posted by Melody Wirz at 10:01 AM.
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Yes! I've seen the movie once years ago. All the same characters were there, but it was much less family and everyone drank large amount of Black Label beer and passed time chasing skirts (and the Dukes)
Posted by: Ted Rheingold at August 11, 2005 01:19 PM
