Veteran Hollywood producer Irwin Winkler has settled a case he filed last year against Warner Bros. over home video returns of the Martin Scorsese-directed movie Goodfellas.
Winkler said in a statement, "This lawsuit was based on a misunderstanding, which I am happy to say has been resolved," Variety reported. "I have been making movies at Warner for more than 25 years, and consider the folks there to be extremely trustworthy, professional and skilled. Most recently, I had a great experience making 'Creed' with Warner and MGM, and look forward to a long and continued collaboration with them."
In his lawsuit, Winkler claimed that Warner Bros. did not pay him the 50 percent of net profits guaranteed in his contract, saying the studio misrepresented receipts from the movie. The Wrap said Winkler claimed he was also entitled to 5 percent of the gross receipt after the break even point of every film he produced.
His complaint alleged "Goodfellas" raked in more than $275 million on a budget of less than $30 million, but Warner claimed the film lost money, and the studio concealed more than $140 million of the movie's actual receipts. Yahoo Movies reported that Winkler abandoned the lawsuit against Warner Bros. which he claimed engaged in "studio accounting on steroids."
Winkler's lawsuit questioned the way Warner Bros. computed home video royalties for profit sharing stakeholders. He insisted that his share in the profits should come from all home video gross receipt and not from 20 percent that has become industry practice and is now being challenged in a number of cases involving movies made in the 70s to the 90s.
The lawsuit alleged breach of contract and fraud where Winkler was represented by Bert Fields in asking for recovery of $18M. A spokesman for Warner was mum on the case and the settlement was not disclosed.
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