Paramount sued over Top Gun: Maverick copyright
The heirs of an author whose article inspired the 1986 film top gun have sued Paramount Pictures for copyright infringement, according to court documents.
Three decades after the original blockbuster, which was based on Ehud Yonay’s 1983 magazine article. best weaponsParamount released a sequel last month that topped the North American box office.
In their lawsuit filed Monday in a California court, Shosh Yonay and Yuval Yonay, the writer’s widow and son who live in Israel, claimed that the copyright to the story was returned to them in 2020, “but Paramount ignored this.
” deliberately flouting the statute.”
“The Yonays contend and Paramount denies that the 2022 sequel, like the 1986 film, is derived from the author’s story,” the complaint says.
The Yonays seek to prevent Paramount from distributing their sequel, as well as unspecified damages.
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A Paramount spokesman told multiple media outlets on Monday that the claims were “baseless.”
“We will vigorously defend ourselves.”
It picks up the story of now grizzled US Navy pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, played by Tom Cruise, as he trains young airmen for a mission to attack a nuclear facility in a rogue state.
The 2022 action drama shot into a second big run in North American theaters this weekend, grossing an estimated million.
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That number placed it among the top 10 second-highest-grossing weekends in domestic box office history. It grossed $151 million last weekend.
The film, whose release was delayed two years by the COVID-19 pandemic, grossed $124 million over the first three days of Memorial Day weekend in May, despite not showing in China or Russia.
Top Gun: Maverick it was Cruise’s first opening to exceed $100 million.
The Paramount/Skydance film has grossed 7 million overseas, the latest sign of Hollywood’s recovery from a bleak pandemic period.
