Twentieth Century Fox Film has been sued over the "Valley of the Dolls" television series it’s developing, Bloomberg reports.
The estate of the late novelist Jacqueline Susann has sued claiming the studio doesn’t have the rights for the production, according to the report.
Fox, which obtained the rights for a 1967 movie and a 1981 TV movie based on the Susann novel, doesn’t have the rights for the TV project, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles, the story notes.
Fox, which is working on the series with "Precious" director Lee Daniels, is accused of copyright infringement, breach of contract and other violations, with the plaintiff asking for unspecified damages, according to the article. The studio didn’t have an immediate comment on the lawsuit, the piece adds.
Why do studios continue to use the titles of shows that most people today don’t recognize anyway? Especially after they change pretty much everything about it. Dukes of Hazzard, Wild WIld WestHawaii Five-O, 21 Jump Street, and dozens of others on small and large screens have little or nothing to do with the originals other than a near basic plot line and I see no financial recommendation to have to pay royalties just to use the title and a few characters names. They aren’t sequels and have no business trying to regain any notoriety the original may have had. Change the names, make it good, and collect your money.
THANK YOU!
In some (increasingly rare) cases, an interesting reboot is accomplished (there’s some argument for FIVE-0 but as much as I like the cast, I think they’ve completely bungled the MacGarret & Dan-O characters; if anything, they’ve improved on Kano & Chin and it is interesting looking at it as a serialized drama vs. the original straight episodic format) but in most cases, it’s just a chance to bank on a name people might have heard of or remember from their youth and deliver some star-driven, lazy piece of shite (yes, I’m looking at YOU, 21 JUMP STREET – I didn’t realize Holly needed the cash enough to do her cameo & I still can’t believe Depp did a cameo but the Deluise boys DIDN’T – I mean, it’s not like they’re all tied up with STARGATE anymore). Current estimates have JUMP STREET possibly making over $30 million this weekend and all of that is solely because you’ve got Jonah Hill and Rob Riggle doing what they do and NOTHING to do with the title. I notice that we’re seeing projects like this and the proposed ROCKFORD FILES reboot after Cannell dies. I may have had my differences with the man professionally & creatively but he wouldn’t have tolerated this on his worst day.