Spinal Tap bandmates join lawsuit over film's profits
Entertainment
Spinal Tap bandmates join lawsuit over film’s profits
Spinal Tap is regrouping to demand that Vivendi SA, the distributor of the 1984 cult film, give them some money. Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Rob Reiner ? who played singer Nigel Tufnel, lead guitarist David St. Hubbins and director Marty Di Bergi, respectively, in “This Is Spinal Tap” ? joined Harry Shearer’s lawsuit against Vivendi. Shearer played bassist Derek Smalls in the film. The revised complaint demands $400 million in damages for “anticompetitive and unfair business practices, as well as fraudulent accounting,” the men said Wednesday in a statement. Shearer, who also voices numerous characters on “The Simpsons,” sued Vivendi and its subsidiary StudioCanal in October, alleging that the companies fraudulently withheld profits from the film.
What makes this case so egregious is the prolonged and deliberate concealment of profit and the purposeful manipulation of revenue allocation between various Vivendi subsidiaries ? to the detriment of the creative talent behind the band and film. Such anticompetitive practices need to be exposed. I am hoping this lawsuit goes to 11.
Reiner
The lawsuit alleges that the Paris-based company made millions from videos and music from the film but failed to share the income with the actors and creators. The faux documentary followed the star-crossed and musically challenged band on a North American tour, and helped usher in a genre satirizing serious films. It popularized lines such as “This goes to 11,” and introduced songs such as “Gimme Some Money” and “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight.” It was added to the U.S. Library of Congress as an important work, despite grossing what Box Office Mojo estimated as just $4.5 million in U.S. theaters.
