Michael Mann’s legal battle over ‘Heat’ rights: Will it affect sequel?

Heat 2, a long-anticipated project, has locked in the film’s key roles for production; however, its director, Michael Mann, is embroiled in a legal battle.

The dispute centres on who owns the rights to the original Heat screenplay.

Mann, who wrote and directed the 1995 movie, is seeking to reclaim control of the film’s screenplay copyright under US copyright law.

The law states that authors can, under certain conditions, regain control of their work after 35 years.

However, here New Regency — a production company that produced Heat — disputes Mann’s version of events. The director filed the notices through his attorneys earlier this year.

In response, the company filed its own filing on Friday, challenging the director’s claim.

They said the screenplay was part of the 1994 agreement — Warner Bros. acquired the rights through Mann’s loan-out company — that was classified as ‘work made for hire,’ which the filing claim contradicted Mann’s account that he has the legal right to reclaim the original screenplay copyright.

According to New Regency, Mann’s legal argument of a ’35 years of termination provision’ cannot apply to work made for hire.

In response, Mann’s lawyers issued a lengthy statement, stating, “We will vigorously defend this action and are confident that the courts will vindicate Michael Mann’s statutory rights under the Copyright Act.”

“This filing has to do with original and personal writing Michael Mann did on multiple screenplays during the 1980s and which evolved into the iconic 1995 film ‘Heat’ that Mann wrote, produced and directed.”

“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 statement stated.

Could the legal fight affect the sequel to Heat?

Apparently no, according to Mann’s lawyer, stating, “For clarification, the lawsuit is unrelated to the production of Heat 2, which will begin shooting on January 19.”