NEWS: Disney Settles Profit-Hoarding Lawsuit

Back in August 2023, we informed you of another lawsuit that had hit Disney’s desks.

©The Walt Disney Company

TSG, a film financier, filed a lawsuit against Disney (and 20th Century Fox Film Corporation — “Fox”) in Los Angeles Superior Court for not getting their share of the profits for movies they had financed for Fox. TSG had alleged that Disney/Fox had breached their contract by using “nearly every trick in the Hollywood accounting book” to “deprive” TSG of “hundreds of millions of dollars.” Now, several months later, there has been an update on the suit.

The original breach of contract filing accused Fox of “withholding profits and self-dealing to boost subscriber numbers,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. Now, as of January 5th, both sides have notified the court that they have struck a deal to resolve the issue.

TSG had claimed that they financed some of Fox’s most successful movies including Avatar: The Way of Water, Bohemian Rhapsody, Deadpool, Deadpool 2, Logan, and more. The financier was supposed to receive a share of certain receipts from each of the films.

©Disney

The concern surrounding streaming was brought up in the file. The problem is that up until recently, movies had stayed in theaters for 90-1120 days, then they went to pay-per-view, home video, pay television, and then finally subscription video-on-demand. This process allowed the companies to maximize profits.

But nowadays, movies go straight to streaming platforms such as Disney+ after only being in theaters for a much shorter amount of time. This was particularly seen with The Way of Water and others.

©Disney

The change in how movies are released caused what TSG claims to be self-dealing to their subscriber numbers which in turn influenced this breach of contract. But now the two have settled the issue behind closed doors which, according to the Hollywood Reporter, is common. However, at this time, the terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

©Marvel

This is just one of several lawsuits Disney is still part of. We’ll be on the lookout for more information on all the rest. In the meantime, keep following DFB for more Disney news.

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