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Gerard Butler filed a lawsuit on Friday alleging he is owed at least $10 million in backend compensation for the 2013 action film “Olympus Has Fallen.”
Butler sued Nu Image/Millennium Films, claiming that the producer had understated domestic and foreign receipts by tens of millions of dollars and had failed to report $8 million that went to its own executives.
The lawsuit comes a day after Scarlett Johansson filed a blockbuster compensation lawsuit against the Walt Disney Co., claiming that the simultaneous release of “Black Widow” on Disney Plus cut into her box office participation.
Butler’s suit is a more traditional “Hollywood accounting” case. Butler starred as Mike Banning, a Secret Service agent who has to rescue the president from hostage-takers.
The film grossed $170 million worldwide, and spawned two successful sequels, “London Has Fallen” and “Angel Has Fallen,” in which Butler reprised the role.
“Producers have earned tens of millions of dollars from ‘Olympus,’ but refuse to pay Butler a penny of the grosses and profits promised to him in the parties’ agreement,” the lawsuit states. “Butler refuses to tolerate Defendants’ misrepresentations and other wrongful conduct. Butler worked with Defendants to create a highly successful movie franchise. He demands his fair share.”
According to the suit, Butler’s contract entitled him to 10% of net profits, plus 6% of domestic adjusted gross receipts above $70 million and 12% of foreign adjusted gross receipts above $35 million. His production company was also entitled to 5% of net profits, and Butler was to receive certain bonuses for hitting box office thresholds.
The suit alleges that Butler has received irregular accounting statements from the producer and that Butler has objected to the statements. According to the suit, Butler hired an auditor who found that domestic receipts were understated by $17.5 million, and producers’ receipts were understated by $12 million, including the $8 million that went to the executives.
The suit also claims that the producers deducted the full cost of foreign publicity from foreign receipts, even though foreign distributors picked up half the cost. The suit also claims that Nu Image/Millennium instructed distributors to deduct certain expenses, such that receipts would be underreported.
Update, Aug. 4: Nu Image/Millennium says that Butler is owed nothing, and they’re “very disappointed” that things have come to this point.
“There is no merit to Mr. Butler’s claim. Nu Image has been open and transparent with Mr. Butler and his representatives about the revenue of ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ which was released in 2013. Nu Image provided participation statements to Mr. Butler and those statements were audited by Mr. Butler’s auditors in 2015 and 2016. The statements fully comply with the terms of Mr. Butler’s agreement, resulting in no overages being due. After over 8 years of our cooperation with Mr. Butler and his representatives on this matter, we are very disappointed that Mr. Butler has now decided to act in this manner.”
