A New Jersey screenplay writer filed a lawsuit in New Jersey Superior Court against the filmmakers of the 2015 American sports drama movie, "Creed" for copyright infringement. The filmmakers of the said movie are accused of stealing the concept of his screenplay he wrote in 2010.
According to NJ.com, Clifton-actor and screenwriter, Jarrett Alexander claims on his lawsuit filed on February 26, he wrote the original screenplay, "Creed: Rocky Legacy" which tells the story of a rising boxer "Rocky", the orphaned son of Apollo Creed. He also claims he registered the said screenplay in 2010 in the U.S. Copyright Office and Writers Guild of America.
Alexander, along with his co-associates pitch the concept to different industry professionals and Sylvester Stallone in 2010 and 2013, however, Alexander and his team got no response with his offer, suit claims.
The lawsuit named the defendants, including, MGMfilm's distributor and co-production studio Warner Bros., as well as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, New Line Cinema and Chartoff-Winkler studios, and Coogler, Stallone and co-writer Aaron Covington. Yahoo News reported, the screenplay writer also alleges that the idea of having Adonis Creed fight a Russian boxer in the upcoming sequel was taken from his "Creed: Rocky Legacy" screenplay, which Stallone indicated, it will be featured on the sequel of the movie.
MGM announced in 2013, that they are developing Creed movie, starring Stallone and Michael B. Jordan on leading roles, with Coogler as the director, Boxden reported. According to the director, his close relationship with his father was the inspiration for the movie.
In November 2015, the critically-acclaimed blockbuster also called "Creed" was released, and has since grossed $173 million with its worldwide premiere on the box office. On the current Oscar awards, Stallone also earned supporting actor Oscar nomination for his role as Rocky Balboa on the movie.
MGM, Warner Bros. and New Line issued a joint statement, saying, "The claims in this lawsuit are baseless and an ill-advised attempt to profit from the work of others." They also said, Creed is based on characters from the 'Rocky' films that are indisputably protected by their copyright. Alexander is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, pre-judgment interest, attorneys' fees and costs.
