Sylvester Stallone is suing Warner Bros studio over profits he says he is owed from the 1993 movie Demolition Man.
The star says Demolition Man made at least $125 million at the box office, and under his deal with the studio, he is entitled to at least 15% of that.
Sylvester Stallone’s lawsuit says “motion picture studios are notoriously greedy” and Warner Bros “sat on the money owed” for years “without any justification”.
Warner Bros has not commented on the legal action.
Sylvester Stallone‘s legal papers say his representatives raised the issue of owed money with Warner Bros in 2014 but were told by the company that they didn’t have to pay him anything because Demolition Man had lost $66.9 million.
He queried this, and in April 2015 the studio sent the actor a cheque for $2.8 million.
The lawsuit alleges: “WB just sat on the money owed to [Sylvester Stallone’s company] Rogue Marble for years and told itself, without any justification, that Rogue Marble was not owed any profits.”
In the lawsuit, which was filed at Los Angeles Superior Court, Sylvester Stallone is seeking a full accounting of the movie’s proceeds, in addition to interest and damages.
The legal action also seeks “an end to this practice for all talent who expect to be paid by WB for the fruits of their labor”.
Sylvester Stallone starred in Demolition Man alongside Wesley Snipes. They played a cop and criminal who are cryogenically frozen and then brought back to life in the future into a world without crime.
