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‘I, Alex Cross’ Sparks Producers’ Lawsuit Over Claims Of Credit By Rivals

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday November 2, 2011 @ 7:14pm PDTTags: Alex Cross, Bill Block, Ed Burns, I Alex Cross, James Patterson, Matthew Fox, Paul Hanson, QED, Rob Cohen, Tyler Perry

Producers of Summit Entertainment’s upcoming release I, Alex Cross, directed by Rob Cohen with Tyler Perry stepping into the role created by Morgan Freeman, have filed suit against other producers who claim they should receive compensation and screen credit for the movie. Bill Block and Paul Hanson are partners in QED, which produced the project that Summit has acquired for distribution. QED claims in the suit that prolonged negotiations that began in 2008 with potential producers Jan Korbelin and Marina Grasic (who with Mark Lindsay have launched Cargo Entertainment) and their company Visitor Pictures failed to come to an agreement on Visitor’s involvement with the development of I, Alex Cross. QED claims it drafted and redrafted multiple memorandums of understanding for Visitor’s involvement that were all rejected and no agreement was reached or signed. In 2009, QED says it formally notified Visitor that all previous offers were withdrawn. QED asserts that development of the movie proceeded without Visitor, who “indeed sought to have no involvement,” according to the suit.

Now that principal photography on I, Alex Cross has finished and the movie is expected to be released next year, QED claims that Visitor has resurfaced and is demanding compensation and screen credit, probably in preparation for legal action of their own. QED and other plaintiffs Suejack Inc and JPB Businesses are seeking a court ruling in the case to remove the “cloud” cast over I, Alex Cross by Visitor’s claims before the movie is released. READ MORE »

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Arnold Set For QED Action Film ‘Black Sands’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday October 28, 2011 @ 12:10pm PDTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Block, James Patterson, Jodie Foster, Kim Jee-Woon, Matt Damon, Matthew Fox, Mike McCoy, Paul Hanson, QED, Rob Cohen, Scott Waugh, Skip Woods, Tyler Perry
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to star in Black Sands, an action film that will be directed by Scott Waugh and Mike McCoy. Financed by Bill Block’s QED, the film will begin production April 1, 2012. In the script that … Read More »

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Brian De Palma To Direct QED’s ‘Key Man’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday August 18, 2011 @ 12:40pm PDTTags: Bill Block, Brian De Palma, Joby Harold, Open Road Films, Paul Hanson, QED International, The Key Man, Tom Ortenberg
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: QED International and Safehouse Pictures have set Brian De Palma to direct the Joby Harold-scripted thriller The Key Man. That film was recently set for U.S. distribution with Tom Ortenberg’s Open Road Films and will … Read More »

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Summit Captures U.S. Rights To James Patterson’s Alex Cross Reboot With Tyler Perry And Matthew Fox

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday March 24, 2011 @ 5:54pm PDTTags: Alex Cross, Bill Block, Ed Burns, I, James Patterson, Matthew Fox, Paul Hanson, Rob Cohen, Rob Friedman, Steve Bowen, Summit Entertainment, Tyler Perry, WME
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Summit Entertainment has acquired domestic distribution rights to I, Alex Cross, the reboot of the James Patterson franchise. Tyler Perry stars as the title character, with Rob Cohen directing. Lost‘s Matthew Fox was just set to play Michael Sullivan, a psycho serial killer who viciously murders Cross’s wife when the detective thwarts his earlier attempt to commit a murder.  The drama becomes a mano a mano battle between cop and the killer who is one of the most memorable villains in Patterson’s novels. Ed Burns will play Cross’s partner Tommy Kane.

Three distributors chased the picture. One was Lionsgate, which has the long relationship on all the hit films that Perry has directed and starred in. But Summit Entertainment had an “in” as well: Summit co-chairman/CEO Rob Friedman. Friedman, former Vice Chairman and COO at Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Group, had an active hand in Paramount’s release of the first two Alex Cross films, Kiss the Girls and Along Came A Spider, which starred Morgan Freeman. He personally oversaw the acquisition and has a relationship with the author. Read More »

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