[Variety]
It looks like Martin Scorsese's "The Irishman" might be getting major setbacks due to its recent Netflix deal. A lawsuit is potentially being weighed by distributor STX. They put in more than $50 Million of their money to produce the film and were kept out of the loop on the Netflix deal.
“It’s like you selling me an apartment and then saying someone else is going to move in,” said Stefano Massenzi of Italy’s Lucky Red, which purchased “The Irishman” for Italy.
Yikes. This is bad news for those of us that wanted to see this film start its shoot in the coming months of spring. Might not happen, unless Netflix finds a clean way out of this.
More quotes:
"Martin Scorsese’s upcoming mob movie “The Irishman” looks to be running into trouble as distributor STX is weighing legal action over Mexican producer Gaston Pavlovich’s pending deal with Netflix. STX bought all non-U.S. distribution rights to the Robert De Niro-starring movie last year in a $50-million deal that was the talk of the Cannes Film Festival."
"But STX’s role in distributing the film was cast into doubt after Pavlovich and his Fabrica de Cine outfit tried to switch instead to a worldwide deal with Netflix. But the reports of an imminent deal between Pavlovich and Netflix have alarmed – and angered – some of those distributors, who feel they have been kept out of the loop and are waiting for answers."
“We have a legally binding and fully executed contract re all exclusive rights in Benelux for ‘The Irishman,’” Van den Broeck wrote in an email. “The chain of title as of today allows to my knowledge no opening for Netflix to even negotiate international rights with these deals in place.”