Ahead of production of the “Heat” sequel, New Regency sued filmmaker Michael Mann in a lawsuit filed Friday to stop him from reclaiming the copyright to his screenplay for the crime drama.
In a complaint filed in a Los Angeles federal court, New Regency asked a judge to declare three termination notices Mann served the company “null and void,” arguing “that the ‘Heat’ screenplay is not eligible for copyright termination under 17 U.S.C. § 203, and that [the company] retains all rights to the screenplay.”
New Regency also argued that Mann wrote the 1995 crime epic as a “work made for hire” — “a fact that Mann stated repeatedly in written agreements that he personally signed, both on his own behalf and on behalf of companies that he controlled.”
The filing added: “As a work made for hire, the Screenplay is not subject to termination under Section 203(a) of 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,” a spokesperson for the filmmaker said in a statement to The Wrap Friday evening. “After 40 years Michael Mann is exercising the right of authors to reclaim their work and, in this case, Michael Mann’s original creation.”
“We will vigorously defend this action and are confident that the courts will vindicate Michael Mann’s statutory rights under the Copyright Act,” the spokesperson continued. “For clarification, this is unrelated to production of ‘Heat 2,’ which will begin shooting on January 19.”
Mann will return to write and direct the sequel, which originated as a novel written by Mann and Meg Gardiner, released in 2022. “Heat 2” serves as both a prequel and a sequel, taking place both before and after the events of Mann’s seminal 1995 film that starred Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
