New Regency Sues Michael Mann to Keep Heat Screenplay Rights
New Regency filed a federal lawsuit in California against director Michael Mann to keep ownership of the Heat screenplay. Mann served notices to reclaim the copyright. The dispute lands before Heat 2, which starts shooting January 19.
New Regency sued director Michael Mann in California federal court on Friday to keep ownership of the screenplay for the 1995 crime drama Heat. The film company filed the case as Mann prepares to shoot the sequel, Heat 2.
New Regency argues that Mann cannot use a copyright provision that lets creators reclaim their works after a set period. It wants a court order confirming that it holds the rights to the screenplay.
“The Screenplay is not subject to termination,” the complaint states.
Three notices to reclaim the rights
Earlier this year, Mann served New Regency three notices seeking to take back the copyright to the screenplay and the underlying materials, according to the complaint. That set off the dispute over who owns the film.
The first notice sought to end all copyright grants for Heat. The lawsuit says that includes an alleged 1988 oral agreement involving Mann and two companies he controlled.
The director allegedly later told New Regency the assignment had never been put in writing. He also allegedly said he had only recently discovered the arrangement.
Work for hire at the center
New Regency says Mann's termination bids are invalid because he wrote the screenplay as a work made for hire. Mann argues he wrote the Heat materials as an independent author, not as an employee.
The distinction could decide the case. Copyrights for works made for hire are generally not eligible for termination, because the employer, not the writer, is legally the author.
The termination notices “cloud Regency's title to the Screenplay and impair its ability to develop, finance, and license works derived from it,” the complaint states. It adds that some provisions in agreements that Mann and New Regency each signed with Amazon for Heat 2 depend on the outcome of the litigation.
Mann's response
A spokesperson for Mann said the director is “confident that the courts will vindicate Michael Mann's statutory rights under the Copyright Act.” The spokesperson said the filing concerns original, personal writing Mann did on multiple screenplays during the 1980s, which became the 1995 film. Mann wrote, produced and directed it.
The spokesperson also said the case is unrelated to production of Heat 2, which begins shooting on January 19. The sequel stars Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and the late Val Kilmer. It is based on Mann's 2022 novel of the same name, which works as both a prequel and a sequel to the original film.
“After 40 years, Michael Mann is exercising the right of authors to reclaim their work and, in this case, Michael Mann's original creation,” the spokesperson said.
