Lionsgate vs. The Weinstein Co., The Weinstein Co. vs. Lionsgate

By Matthew Belloni

Welcome to distributor relations, post-'Watchmen'. Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company sued each other today over who has distribution rights to Sundance award-winner "Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire."

Here's the Lionsgate complaint for declaratory relief, filed today in LA Superior Court by Patti Glaser and Bryan Sullivan at Century City's Glaser Weil. The TWC complaint for breach of contract and inducement to breach of contract was filed in New York, so we don't have that one yet. (Here it is.)

Lionsgate alleges that TWC doesn't have "any right, title or interest" in the Lee Daniels-directed urban drama but that Harvey Weinstein has staked a claim to the picture. The Santa Monica mini-major announced last week that it had picked up the film's North American distribution rights for about $5 million and plans to release it with the support of Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry.

But Harvey says he secured rights before Lionsgate closed its deal, and he's hired superlawyers Bert Fields and David Boies to represent the company. Rumors went around at Sundance that TWC and Overture were interested in the film, but the "Push" producers and Lionsgate insist no deal was done because the parties couldn't come to terms over issues such as international rights and profit-sharing.

It's an unusually aggressive strategy for Lionsgate to preemptively sue based on "threatened litigation." Execs there probably had endured enough angry tirades from Harvey and filed suit to plant their flag in an LA court before Harvey sued in New York or, worse, waited in the wings to assert a claim closer to the film's release date (a tactic that will forever be known as the "Watchmen" strategy).

Now with dueling cases pending on both coasts, the judges will have to decide who has jurisdiction before we even get to who sold what to whom and when.