Writer Wants Cut of "Barbershop"
Ice Cube has a new topic to discuss up in his barbershop.
A Montgomery, Alabama, man plunked down $250 Wednesday to file a $100 million federal copyright infringement lawsuit accusing MGM and Cube's production company, Cube Vision, of swiping his idea for a movie about a bunch of talkative haircutters and turning it into the lucrative Barbershop franchise.
Reps for both MGM and the rapper-actor declined to comment on the case.
Per his lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, James Davis, a 31-year-old aspiring filmmaker, says he came up with the idea for The Shop while he was working in a Atlanta barbershop. The suit claims Davis had circulated the script to several actors and production companies.
"For one year, Davis continued to have discussions directly with actors and comedians regarding signing with Davis to produce and perform his screenplay," the lawsuit says, adding that Davis was "offered funding through an investor to produce the screenplay for video distribution."
In the end, though, Davis says his investors bailed once they found out MGM had a similar project in the pipeline. Aside from the studio and Cube's company, Davis names Barbershop cowriters Don Scott, Marshall Todd and Mark Brown as defendants.
While Hollywood is littered with stories of screenwriters who claim their ideas were stolen by big-time players, Davis believes he has a strong case.
"My script was copyrighted in 1999 while I was in college, and theirs was copyrighted in 2001, the same year that I was getting investors and letters of intent," Davis told AllHipHop.com. "A very famous celebrity gave Ice Cube my script and the story board. I am not saying two people can't have the same idea, but for our concepts to be similar is impossible."
Davis is looking for a hefty cut of the film franchise. The original Barbershop, which costarred Cube, Cedric the Entertainer and Eve as quipping clippers on Chicago's South Side, opened in 2002 and became a surprise hit, grossing $76 million domestically, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. The 2004 sequel, Barbershop 2: Back in Business, also did solid business, with $65 million in North American ticket sales. But this year's Queen Latifah-fronted spinoff, Beauty Shop, which was set in an Atlanta salon, was less successful, grossing just $36 million.
The concept has also been turned into a television series starring Omar Gooding, which is currently airing on Showtime.
As for Ice Cube, he's has plenty to keep his mind off legal problems. He just starred in this summer's XXX: State of the Union and has four more films in various stages of development. And he's producing and lending his voice to the animated show Grandmaster Freak & the Furious 15, about a 17-year-old hip-hop pioneer and his posse. Fox has picked up a pilot of the show, which could air in January 2006.
The onetime NWA member guests with Snoop Dogg on Warren G's new disc, In the Mid-Nite Hour, and has also been working on tracks with Lil Jon for a new solo album.
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