‘Road House’ Copyright Battle Becomes Bare-Knuckle Brawl As Amazon, MGM And United Artists Countersue With Claims Scribe & Lawyer Lied To Feds

deadline.com:

The copyright battle over Road House and this year’s remake starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor has turned into a full-on bare-knuckle legal brawl.

If R. Lance Hill, who penned the original 1986 script under the moniker David Lee Henry, thought in his February filing that he was going to bop Amazon Studios, MGM Studios and United Artists over “blatant copyright infringement” – he just got smacked back, hard.   “Plaintiff’s Complaint ignores the well-established rule of copyright law that the author of a work made for hire is not the individual who created the work,” declares the counterclaim filing by Amazon Studios, MGM and United Artists in federal court on May 3 (read it here).

The original Patrick Swayze-starring barroom flick came out in 1989 and proved a big hit for the Dirty Dancing star and UA. Flash to 2024, and, amidst accusations of AI use and potential strike-busting, the House that Bezos Built brought out the Doug Liman-helmed Road House redo March 21.

With a pumped-up Gyllenhaal and UFC star Conor McGregor going head to head, the new Road House proved a hit with a record 50 million-plus viewers watching it on Prime Video during its first two weekends, according to Amazon.