The Hot Blog

I think this quote from Blade will suffice:

"Some motherfuckers are always trying to ice-skate uphill."

That, and good luck.

Please tell me this wasn't the guy who came up with the original ideas for Sky High or Eight Below... because he should get thrown in jail for that.

Eight Below was a remake of the 1980s Japanese movie Antarctica.

this does feel like old news, or at least not surprising since every time there's a smash hit you've got one of these nutty screenwriter lawsuits. Which isn't to say it's meritless, but last I checked bears shit in the woods. A few years ago I spent quite a bit of time on the Wordplayer website of Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio. If there's a pair of screenwriters less likely to rip off a script I'd like to meet em.

No wonder Bob Iger didn't mention Elliot and Rossio by name in his company-wide congratulatory email today that managed to mention just about every other major player involved with the movie. He knew the real screenwriter was about to get his due.

It all makes sense now.

when I read this on IMDb I laughed out loud. It's like how that guy sued Dan Brown for stealing his idea just as the movie was about to come out.

Where was this man 3 years ago?

The answer's obvious: potential litigants wait for the movie to open. After all, nobody's gonna sue a flop.

Clearly Royce Matthew doesn't want to work in Hollywood ever again.

If you noticed Dave's link on the main page to the Rossio/Elliot site, this lawsuit was brought about over a year ago and was discussed then (Feb 2005 to be exact). There's nothing "breaking" news about this.

I only know of this story through Defamer, but I just read that Disney is cutting its production slate from around 18 films a year to around 8, and concentrating on only using the Disney brand, cutting down its Touchstone wing. Sounds like more bad news for the 'middle class' of films.

Tthe original came out in 2003... why sue in 2005?

This lawsuit has more problems than you can shake a stick at, starting with a 3-year statute of limitations that would have started to run well before the movie was released, IMO. Obviously another guy hoping for a quick settlement, but I hope the studio sticks to their guns (swords?) on this one. It's very nearly preposterous on its face.

AP picked up the story yesterday. Fark links to its on the Entertainment page with a Scary tag . . .

Yarrrrrr I'm a stealin' yer script, matey, so prepare to be boarded

In 1994 / 1995 - Royce Mathew created and published worldwide a derivative work of his original supernatural pirate story. Royce Mathew’s published 1994 short condensed (low budget) supernatural pirate movie (sold in stores & shown at the 1995 industry E-3 trade show Los Angeles, California) features the Black Pearl pirate ship; a gold medallion on a gold chain with mystic properties - able to "summon/call" especially near the ocean; pirates who don't want anything to do with the plunder/return a treasure because they are cursed; moonlight reveals the effects of the curse the pirates endure. His story also features five main characters: the ten year old protagonist who takes the gold in the opening scene & the hold out of the gold medallion by the gold chain / drop it or not scene; the eccentric pirate; the blacksmith; the evil pirate captain who is cursed; the apple/hunger scene between the protagonist and the evil pirate captain involving the gold medallion on the gold chain; and the one eye comic relief pirate. In the opening scene, the young protagonist takes a piece of gold from the shipwreck victim, thus becomes a thief, and sets the story in motion. The one eye pirate then comes after the gold piece. Number of times "to the Black Pearl" is said in Royce Mathew's 1994 supernatural pirate movie - Twice. Number of times "to the Black Pearl" is said in Disney's 2003 supernatural pirate movie - Twice. There is much, much more. ***

Royce Mathew’s numerous years working in the entertainment industry included meetings and pitches with Creative Artists Agency CAA, William Morris Agency, Paramount Pictures, Disney and Hanna Barbera. Credits include low budget indie “B” films, studio films and Broadway. ***

FYI: Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio are the key credited writers on Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise. A few quotes and items of interest as originally filed in Federal Court 2005 ***

Terry Rossio: “I hope you don't think this town is fair. Your ideas will get stolen. Your work will get bastardized. Even film-makers you admire will screw you over, if they get the chance.” “This is a town of rich white males for rich white males.” ***

Terry Rossio "I’ve always been jealous and somewhat resentful of writers who always talk about being in the zone; for me it was always one excruciatingly difficult word after another. I’ve never not had writer’s block (laughs). It’s nice I can’t get writer’s block because I’m always in that space.” (2003) ***

Terry Rossio: “If anyone wants to run an idea for a movie past me, I'm always willing to listen to short pitches, looking for that next great filmic concept." "But who wouldn't want to receive that next great blockbuster movie idea, and be a part of helping it along? One solution is to disingenuously suggest that people only send us the really great ideas. Ha.” “500 S. Buena Vista Street Animation 1D-2 Burbank, California 91521"- (Ted Elliot & Terry Rossio’s website - www.wordplayer.com which used this Disney address in 2004, after using a Dreamworks address) ***

Terry Rossio: "Panic. Struggle. Hopelessness. Etc. To me, that's simply what writing is. I have always hated the actual act of writing, I have always found it excruciatingly painful, and I can honestly say I've never enjoyed a single second of it. Writing one word is hard, and takes a psychic toll. Putting a second word down is twice as hard. And an entire sentence is pure torture. Or, to look at it another way, I've never experienced the opposite feeling; that ‘flow’ that so many writers refer to. “ (1997 / 2004 - Wordplayer) ***

Ted Elliott: "The one that I count as an attempt to do a real pirate movie was “Swashbuckler”, from Universal. This movie has a great cast and a really solid story, but looks like it was shot on a budget for like a two-hour episode of Fantasy Island. In a lot of ways, the tone we were going for was the tone of that script. That movie starts with the hanging of a pirate, and our movie ends with the hanging of a pirate. And that’s our little homage.” (Ted Elliott indirectly revealed where they got the new ending for Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean movie - and justifies it by calling it a homage - *compare both hanging scenes available on DVD) ***

Prior to directing Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl, Gore Verbinski directed The Ring, which was augmented / exploited / copied / remake of the (low budget) Japanese movie "RINGU".

All of that - wel, most of it - is interesting, Moose. But does it prove anything.

The closing shot at Verbinski for making a DreamWorks project that was an official remake of Ringu is the kind of truly irrelevant comment that makes the whole thing seem silly. And writers bitching about writers block is not exactly evidence of theft.

There are many circumstances under which I would be more sympathtic to Mr. Matthew's claims. But it seems pretty iffy (at best) about now.

at www.disneylawsuit.com - see photo proof of Royce Mathew's lawsuit regarding Pirates of the Caribbean, with photo & documented proof, and key details pinpointing the Walt Disney Company’s deliberate fraud and certain corruption, which includes this publicly traded company having intentionally concocted facts and lies with which to continue to financially profit, escape all accountability and purposely alter the court, it’s shareholders and the public’s perception of the truth. www.disneylawsuit.com

at www.disneylawsuit.com - see photo proof of Royce Mathew's lawsuit regarding Pirates of the Caribbean, with photo & documented proof, and key details pinpointing the Walt Disney Company’s deliberate fraud and certain corruption, which includes this publicly traded company having intentionally concocted facts and lies with which to continue to financially profit, escape all accountability and purposely alter the court, it’s shareholders and the public’s perception of the truth. www.disneylawsuit.com

We are here to provide you with best available lawyers & their suggestions which would help you out in any of your legal issues. For more information visit our website.....
========================================
linda
attorney

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

URL:
Remember me? YesNo

Comments: