The screenwriter of the original Road House is suing Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and Amazon Studios for copyright infringement.
R. Lance Hill (who writes under the pen name David Lee Henry) is accusing Amazon of ignoring the fact that he reclaimed the rights for his 1986 screenplay of the original film for their remake. Hill claims that he filed a petition with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2021 for the copyright of the film to be returned to him when United Artists’ copyright expired in November 2023.
Hill’s lawsuit alleges that Amazon ignored the petition and continued with the making of the upcoming Road House remake, and allegedly used artificial intelligence to replicate voices for actors during the SAG-AFTRA strike in an effort to finish the movie early. Hill’s lawsuit also claims that Amazon’s remake and his original screenplay share several “key literary elements.”
As a result of the initial claims, the WGA (Writers Guild of America) awarded Hill a “story by” acknowledgment, with the film now saying “Based on the motion picture ‘Road House,’ Screenplay by David Lee Henry and Hilary Henkin, Story by David Lee Henry.”
“On Nov. 11, 2023, the Screenplay’s copyright thereby duly reverted to Hill under the Copyright Act. Yet, in contravention of the Act’s fundamental authorial termination right, Defendants refused to acknowledge Hill’s statutory termination,” the suit reads (via Variety). “Instead, Defendants steamrolled ahead with the production of a remake of the 1989 Film derived from Hill’s Screenplay.”
Hill is seeking relief and blocking the distribution of the film
In Hill’s suit, he’s seeking declaratory relief and hoping to block the distribution of the film, which is set to premiere on Prime Video next month. An Amazon MGM Studios spokesperson has responded to the suit, telling Variety that the lawsuit is “without merit.”
“The lawsuit filed by R. Lance Hill regarding ‘Road House’ today is completely without merit and numerous allegations are categorically false. The film does not use any AI in place of actors’ voices. We look forward to defending ourselves against these claims,” said the spokesperson.
