Yes, you read that correctly: John Singleton filed a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures (and MTV Films) on Wednesday to the tune of $20 million bucks. The filmmaker claims that the studio reneged on elements of a deal that was struck during the Sundance Film Festival in 2005. The project, which starred Terrence Howard and won an Oscar for Best Song, was such a hit that Singleton had a host of studios bidding for the film.
Choosing Paramount Pictures because it not only agreed to pay $9 million for the film, but also pledged to finance and distribute two other films of Singleton's choosing, with $3.5-million budgets. You can read the full lawsuit here. Singleton, clearly unhappy about it, claims that he passed on a number of other, potentially more lucrative deals for Hustle & Flow because of Paramount's promise.
It's important to note here that Singleton's latest directorial effort was the Taylor Lautner-starring stinkbomb Abduction. He's claiming fraud, unjust enrichment, breach of contract, and breach of implied covenant. Sounds like someone needs to call up Doughboy and go mob up on some Hollywood execs. Or maybe he'll stick to possibly directing the long-gestated Untitled Tupac Shakur biopic? Either way, doesn't making $9 million for a movie that made $23 million sound like just compensation?
Share your thoughts below.
[via LA Times]
