New Regency is suing Michael Mann to reassert its ownership over Heat ahead of the high-profile follow-up to the 1995 crime drama classic.
In a lawsuit filed Friday in California federal court, New Regency argues that Mann can’t exploit a copyright law provision that allows creators to claw back ownership of their works after a certain period. It seeks a court order clarifying that it retains the rights to the screenplay for Heat.
“The Screenplay is not subject to termination,” the complaint states.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Mann said the director is “confident that the courts will vindicate Michael Mann’s statutory rights under the Copyright Act.”
“This filing has to do with original and personal writing Michael Mann did on multiple screenplays during the 1980s and which evolved into the iconic 1995 film Heat that Mann wrote, produced and directed,” the spokesperson added. “After 40 years, Michael Mann is exercising the right of authors to reclaim their work and, in this case, Michael Mann’s original creation.”
The filing comes ahead of Mann preparing to film Heat 2, a sequel starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and the late Val Kilmer. The upcoming film is based on Mann’s 2022 novel of the same name, which serves as both a prequel and sequel to the original.
In Friday’s lawsuit, New Regency argues that Mann’s bids to terminate New Regency’s copyright for Heat are invalid because the director penned the screenplay as a work made for hire.
Earlier this year, Mann served three notices to New Regency seeking to reclaim the copyright to the screenplay and underlying materials for Heat, setting off a dispute with the company over who owns the rights to the film, according to the complaint. The first notice sought to terminate all copyright grants for Heat, the lawsuit says, including an alleged 1988 oral agreement from Mann and two companies he controlled. The director allegedly later told New Regency that the assignment had never been formally put in writing and that he had only recently discovered the arrangement.
The assignment of the copyright is significant because Mann is arguing that he wrote Heat-related materials as an independent author rather than as an employee. The distinction could swing the case since copyrights for works made for hire are generally not eligible to be terminated since the employer, rather than the individual writer, is legally considered the author.
“The Termination Notices cloud Regency’s title to the Screenplay and impair its ability to develop, finance, and license works derived from it,” states the complaint. “In addition, certain provisions of the agreements that Mann and Regency each entered into with Amazon with respect to Heat 2 depend on the outcome of this litigation.”
Read Mann’s full statement below:
This filing has to do with original and personal writing Michael Mann did on multiple screenplays during the 1980s and which evolved into the iconic 1995 film Heat that Mann wrote, produced and directed.
After 40 years Michael Mann is exercising the right of authors to reclaim their work and in this case Michael Mann’s original creation.
We will vigorously defend this action and are confident that the courts will vindicate Michael Mann’s statutory rights under the Copyright Act.
For clarification, this is unrelated to production of Heat 2 which will begin shooting on Jan. 19.