Weinstein Co & ‘Escape From Planet Earth’ Producers Settle $50M Lawsuit

After almost two years, the $50 million Escape From Planet Earth lawsuit against the Weinstein Company is over. The distributor came to a settlement with plaintiffs Brian Inerfeld and Tony Leech on February 15, the same day the animated film was released. In a document (read it here) filed in the New York Supreme Court, lawyers for both sides filed a motion of discontinuance in the case, effectively ending it. No details of the settlement were made available but because the motion was filed “with prejudice” both sides will be paying their own legal costs. Maybe they all knew there wasn’t going to be a lot of cash for anyone to get. Escape From Planet Earth, which cost $70 million, made only $20.3 million at the box office over its opening holiday four-day weekend. This legal battle started back in March 2011 when the two plaintiffs sued the Weinsteins claiming that the “out of control” brothers “sabotaged what should have been a highly profitable movie through a potent combination of hubris, incompetence, profligate spending and contempt for contractual obligations.” In their suit the duo also claimed that the Weinsteins paid them half a million bucks to keep quiet while the company conducted an ultimately successful campaigned to win The King’s Speech a Best Oscar. Harvey and Bob responded in calling Inerfeld and Leech “vindictive Hollywood talent.” The case had become a “we say/they say,” winding though the courts with multiple motions from both sides. Leech and Inerfeld are represented by Judd Burstein of New York’s Judd Burstein P.C. The Weinsteins were represented by Joseph Kroetsch, Motty Shulman and James Ostaszewski of Boies Schiller & Flexner.

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