Universal Pictures is being sued for producing the upcoming Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham movie “Hobbs and Shaw,” a spinoff of the “Fast and The Furious” films. The “Fast and Furious” franchise producer Neal Moritz accuses Universal of breach of oral contract and promissory fraud in claiming the studio unfairly forced him out of the project.
Moritz’s attorney, Dale Kinsella, said, “This case presents a classic example of Hollywood greed.” Moritz demands to be a part of the upcoming project as the producer or he said the production company will be forced to pay, “tens of millions dollars in damages in lost compensation.”
In a complaint that seeks jury trial, Moritz said, “In an extraordinary show of bad faith, and just a few days before filming was set to begin on Hobbs and Shaw, Universal took the position that Moritz either had to amend his oral producer deal to accept substantially inferior financial terms, or be cut out of the Picture altogether.” He continued, “Remarkably, despite Moritz having complete Pay-or-Play protection on all of his last several deals on the FF Franchise and having relied on Universal’s oral promises, Universal also took the extraordinary position that it was free to exploit Moritz’s ideas for Hobbs and Shaw, and his work product over an approximately year-and-a-half period, without honoring its oral producer agreement.”
Well, if the “Hobbs and Shaw” film is stopped in its tracks, Tyrese Gibson will be somewhere smiling. Johnson and Gibson (who is also a part of the cast of “Fast and Furious”) began feuding back in September 2017. Johnson had just announced the spinoff, and the singer was not at all for it. Gibson claimed he was angry about the spinoff because he felt it was tearing the “Fast and Furious” family apart.
Gibson took to Instagram and said, “You thought I was hating…… I was simply fighting to keep the family together what makes us great is when you see us all TOGETHER we don’t fly solo….. #MyLastPost today…”
