Producers James Young, Ford Oelman and Mark Costa have filed a lawsuit in L.A. against St. Louis-based World Events and Kickstart Prods. alleging that they illegally worked out VOLTRON deals during their exclusive rights window, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER [1]. World Events holds the TV rights to the Japanese animated production.
The producers, representing Animus Films and NHO Ent., claim that Jason Netter and Kickstart Ent. conspired to make a film based on the property without involving them. The suit alleges breach of contract, fraud and interference with contractual relations. The producers are seeking various damages.
A spokesperson for World Events and Kickstart called the suit "frivolous and without merit" and also said "fortunately, these baseless claims do not in any way encumber the film or any other VOLTRON project, and we are excited to proceed on the long-awaited VOLTRON feature film with our partner Atlas."
Young, Oelman and Costa, with Mark Gordon, claim they had been developing a feature based on VOLTRON since 2004. In the meantime, World Events and Kickstart were trying to sell the property to other producers.
In July, World Events and Kickstart signed a deal with Charles Roven's Atlas Ent. for the feature rights. The producers are not claiming that the companies didn't have the right to sell the license, but that they get credit for their work and get the compensation they were promised.
Links:
[1] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ie2038d49cf28a7303540151662b2bd06