There’s new drama surrounding the Fast and Furious series, as franchise producer Neal Moritz decided to sue Universal for a breach of contract, according to Deadline.
Moritz is suing over the Hobbs and Shaw spinoff starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, after being kicked out of production on the forthcoming film. “This case presents a classic example of Hollywood greed,” reads the filing submitted to the court on Wednesday.
He’s asking to be reinstated as the lead producer on the film, which just began shooting, or be paid “tens of millions dollars in damages in lost compensation.”
“In an extraordinary show of bad faith, and just a few days before filming was set to begin on Hobbs and Shaw, Universal took the position that Moritz either had to amend his oral producer deal to accept substantially inferior financial terms, or be cut out of the Picture altogether,” the complaint reads. “Remarkably, despite Moritz having complete Pay-or-Play protection on all of his last several deals on the FF Franchise and having relied on Universal’s oral promises, Universal also took the extraordinary position that it was free to exploit Moritz’s ideas for Hobbs and Shaw, and his work product over an approximately year-and-a-half period, without honoring its oral producer agreement.”
The veteran producer was reportedly dropped from the film on Sept. 7 for not agreeing to a pay reduction. In layman’s terms, Moritz was initially offered one deal based on the film’s gross, then later asked to shift that deal to a “post-breakeven pool.”
“If Universal believes that it can treat one of its most successful producers with such extraordinary bad faith, one can only imagine how Universal treats its lesser established producers,” the filing states.
It’s unclear when this might get resolved, or how it could impact the forthcoming film, but as of right now Hobbs and Shaw is still slated to hit theaters this coming summer in 2019. The movie also stars the magnificent Idris Elba.
