Original Predator Screenwriters Sue Disney To Acquire Rights to Film

The original screenwriters of Predator have sued Disney in an attempt to reacquire the film’s rights. THR reports that Jim and John Thomas, who wrote the script for Hunters which eventually turned into Predator, have filed suit attempting to recapture the rights to the original film.

The two are using the termination provision of copyright law to make their argument, which allows authors to cancel transfers of rights after a certain period of time, usually 35 years. They claim that they served a termination notice for the film in 2016 and heard to response until January of this year, when “Defendants’ counsel unexpectedly contacted Plaintiffs’ counsel, contesting the Termination Notice as supposedly untimely, based on a theory that the 1986 Grant of the Screenplay underlying their Predator films allegedly qualified for the special, delayed termination time ‘window’ in 17 U.S.C. § 203(a)(3), intended for ‘book publication’ grants.”

The broths allege that they served alternative notices of termination with later effective termination dates but Disney has not been satisfied and they are asking the courts to get involved. Disney, meanwhile, have a new Predator in the works and are countersuing, alleging that the notices of termination from the Thomases are invalid and that the “defendants are improperly attempting to prematurely terminate 20th Century’s rights to the Hunters Screenplay, at the very time that 20th Century is investing substantial time, money, and effort in developing another installment in its successful Predator franchise.”

Copyright termination has been a subject of much discussion recently, with Wes Craven’s estate regaining the rights to A Nightmare on Elm Street in 2019. Victor Miller did the same to claim the rights to the Friday the 13th franchise, though producer Sean Cunningham has sued contesting those rights.