One of the most anticipated films in Hollywood’s holster is the upcoming crime thriller Heat 2, though a new legal battle is casting an unexpected shadow over the franchise. It was recently reported that New Regency is suing Michael Mann to maintain its ownership of Heat.
The studio filed a complaint on Friday in federal court in California, alleging that Mann can’t invoke a copyright law provision that allows creators to regain ownership of their projects after a certain period. To cut Mann off at the pass, New Regency is seeking a court order to reinforce its position that the studio owns the rights to the Heat screenplay.
“The Screenplay is not subject to termination,” the complaint states.
In response to New Regency’s statement, one of Mann’s reps said they’re “confident that the courts will vindicate Michael Mann’s statutory rights under the Copyright Act,” arguing that the director is simply exercising his legal right as an author to reclaim work he originally conceived and wrote during the 1980s.
What the Legal Battle Is Really About
In the new lawsuit, New Regency says the director completed the Heat screenplay under a work-for-hire arrangement. Meanwhile, earlier this year, Mann served three notices to New Regency seeking to reclaim the copyright to the screenplay and underlying materials for Heat, a move that prompted the studio to fire back. The first notice tried to terminate all copyright grants for Heat, including an alleged 1988 oral agreement from Mann and two companies he controlled. According to Mann, the work-for-hire agreement was never formally established in writing. In other words, Mann says he wrote the screenplay as an independent author, not a New Regency employee.
Michael Mann Fires Back
You can read Mann’s full statement below:
“This filing has to do with original and personal writing Michael Mann did on multiple screenplays during the 1980s and which evolved into the iconic 1995 film Heat that Mann wrote, produced and directed. After 40 years Michael Mann is exercising the right of authors to reclaim their work and in this case Michael Mann’s original creation. We will vigorously defend this action and are confident that the courts will vindicate Michael Mann’s statutory rights under the Copyright Act. For clarification, this is unrelated to production of Heat 2 which will begin shooting on Jan. 19.”
What This Means for Heat 2
Michael Mann appears determined to roll cameras on Heat 2, a follow-up to his 1995 thriller, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Stephen Graham, Adam Driver, Christian Bale, Al Pacino, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Jason Clarke leading the cast, with Odessa Young and María Cid rumored to be part of the production.
Even if Mann insists the sequel’s January shoot remains untouched by the dispute over the original film, it’s a shame to see the Heat name wrapped up in legal tape after years of waiting for the follow-up to get off the ground. With any luck, Mann and New Regency will settle their differences cleanly while the sequel moves ahead unhindered. We’ll keep an eye out for updates about this frustrating case.
The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.
What’s Not Allowed