Paramount Pictures is being sued for copyright infringement over Top Gun: Maverick.
As reported by Reuters, the family of Ehud Yonay, author of the 1983 article Top Guns that inspired the 1986 Tom Cruise movie, filed a copyright lawsuit against Paramount Pictures. According to the lawsuit, the Paramount Global unit did not reacquire the rights to Yonay's article from his family before Top Gun: Maverick was released in theaters.
"These claims are without merit, and we will defend ourselves vigorously," Paramount said in a statement. The lawsuit was filed on June 6 by Ehud's widow, Shosh Yonay, and his son, Yuval Yonay, who are seeking not only profits made from Top Gun: Maverick but to halt the film's distribution and any subsequent sequels.
While Paramount did at one point own the exclusive movie rights to Top Guns, the Yonays claim that Paramount did not acknowledge the copyright had reverted back to the family in January 2020. According to the lawsuit, the Yonays sent a cease and desist letter in May and allege that Paramount said the sequel had been "sufficiently completed" by the time the copyright reverted back to the Yonays. However, Yonays say the film was completed in May 2021. The Yonays have not publicly commented on the matter.
Top Gun celebrated its 35th-anniversary in 2021. Paramount's sequel saw Cruise and Val Kilmer reprise their respective roles as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell and his rival, Tom "Iceman" Kazansky from the original 1986 film. Top Gun: Maverick will also star Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly and Jon Hamm. First announced in 2017, a teaser trailer for the sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, was released in 2019 and saw Cruise return to the cockpit in a teaching role.
According to Cruise, it was crucial for Kilmer to return for the sequel for an extremely emotional moment in particular. "I really rallied hard for him to make the movie," Cruise said. "The kind of talent that he has, and you see that scene, it's very special, it's just very special." Maverick also used hundreds of real pilots as extras, many of whom were inspired to fly planes because of the original Top Gun movie.
"They were coming up to us and telling us that the first Top Gun film inspired them to join the Navy and the Air Force," Jack Kilmer, son of "Iceman" actor Val Kilmer, said at the time. "Then we had these big F-bomb planes flying overhead. It was like one of the proudest moments of being American that you could think of really."
Directed by Joseph Kosinski, from a screenplay by Peter Craig, Justin Marks and Eric Warren Singer, Top Gun: Maverick is set for release on May 27.
Source: Reuters
