‘Sin City’ Sequel Producers Sue The Weinstein Co. Over Alleged Distribution, Marketing Shorts
The producers of the film Frank Miller’s Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (aka Sin City 2) are suing The Weinstein Company, Harvey Weinstein, Bob Weinstein and David Glasser, alleging the distributors pushed a similar movie during the time they should have promoted the Sin City sequel.
The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges TWC was promoting the sci-fi movie The Giver during the same period as Sin City’s release. TWC allegedly had a financial interest in The Giver, which starred Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep, according to the complaint. TWC also allegedly had promised not to promote another film during the time period it was touting Sin City 2.
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Read the court papers here.
“Because defendants held a substantial personal interest in The Giver’s financial success, Defendants took action to make certain The Giver achieved a profitable distribution, even though doing so directly harmed Plaintiff’s film Sin City 2; a film in which Defendants had no financial interest,” the documents state.
The suit also contends TWC was co-mingling the marketing funds spent on the films. TWC claimed it spent over $30 million on Sin City 2, while the lawsuit alleges it was actually only $5 million.
The Sin City 2 producers, which included Sergei and Marina Bespalov and several legal entities, took TWC to arbitration and claim to have been awarded $17.4 million in 2018. But now they believe greater damages are in order, with the court papers claiming bad marketing caused the Sin City 2 film to fall short by many millions of dollars in worldwide revenue. They are asking for a jury trial and have not specified the damages they believe they are owed.
The original Sin City grossed an alleged $158 million worldwide, $74 million in the US, since its March 2005 release, also winning critical respect. The producers licensed Frank Miller’s second book, Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, in 2012 to create the film sequel. That film, released in 2014, grossed a reported $39 million worldwide and $13.7 million in domestic box office.
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