10 Famous Movies That Led To Major Lawsuits
They say that life imitates art, but how about art that imitates life? Throughout the course of cinematic history, there have been several instances where a movie has been accused of being derivative. In some cases, these accusations have even led to court-filed lawsuits. Of course, it’s very difficult for someone to prove that a movie’s concept was taken directly from another’s ideas. Without compelling physical evidence, winning a copyright infringement case against a major blockbuster movie is nearly impossible. But that doesn’t stop people from trying. There are quite a few people who believe that hugely successful movies like Avatar and The Matrix were taken from the pages of their own stories.
There are other cases where people sue the makers of a film because they feel their likeness was portrayed in an inaccurate way. This happens mostly with biographical movies, which bring to life real people played by actors. But since many of these films are “inspired” by true events rather than “based” on them, it can also be very hard to prove that a director intended to harm an individual with a movie’s depiction of him or her.
While it’s much rarer, there are cases when a lawsuit occurs from within a production. For example, Scarlett Johansson went head-to-head with Disney following a claimed breach of contract over the release of Black Widow.
You might not even realize it, but some of today’s most popular movies were plagued by expensive court filings following their release. Here are the stories of 10 high-profile lawsuits that occurred after the debut of these famous films.