Hanks Drops Suit Against Greek Wedding Parties

Actor, wife Rita Wilson and Nia Vardalos withdraw lawsuit against fellow producer of 2002 sleeper hit, which they accused of withholding profits

Some things just aren't worth fighting for after all.

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have dropped their breach-of-contract lawsuit against three companies that put up part of the money to make My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which they had accused of hanging onto a bigger-than-fair share of the proceeds.

Production companies representing the powerhouse couple, coproducer Gary Goetzman and Wedding star Nia Vardalos, whom Hanks and Wilson teamed up with after catching her one-act play the culture-clash comedy was based on, sued Gold Circle Films, Big Wedding Productions and Vortex Pictures last August.

An attorney for the plaintiffs filed papers Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court requesting a dismissal "without prejudice," meaning they can choose to refile their complaint at a later date. There was no immediate comment from their camp as to why they decided to abandon ship.

They had sought unspecified damages and a full accounting of the film's overall profits, including box office, home video, cable and all related grosses.

Last year, Gold Circle VP Scott Niemeyer said that they had never opposed Hanks & Co.'s right to a full audit.

"Gold Circle has fully complied with its contractual obligations and has already paid plaintiffs a combined total of over $44 million in profits," he said.

But while Gold Circle's account of the film's grosses totaled about $287 million, My Big Fat Greek Wedding's estimated worldwide take at the box office was $368.7 million, per tracker BoxOfficeMojo.com.

The movie cost about $5 million to make, according to the lawsuit. Vardalos' contract had her making off 8 percent of the gross profits, while her fellow plaintiffs were promised one-third of the remainder after the necessary disbursements were made.