A follow-up to post on the John Singleton/Paramount Studios/MTV Films $20 million lawsuit.
Singleton alleged the studio reneged on their promise to greenlight and distribute two of his films after he gave them the right to distribute the 2005 hit, Hustle and Flow.
Singleton stated that at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, he accepted a deal for $9 million dollars from Paramount and MTV Films for Hustle & Flow, and in doing so, passed up on a $10 million dollar deal from New Line, because Paramount and MTV promised to produce two additional features with for Singleton, as long as the budgets did not exceed $3.5 million and his producing fee was no more than 7.5%.
The case was first revealed last fall; and Paramount would eventually allege that they did no wrong because Singleton had a deadline of January 22, 2010 to complete both films.
Singleton was requesting damages in the amount of $1,000,000, the additional amount he would have gotten from the New Line deal. In addition to that, he is also requesting his producer and directors fees, as well as the additional value of the two unproduced films.
In total, Singleton claims he's owed more than $20 million.
However, Paramount argued that Singleton is entitled to no more than $400,000 in director and producing fees.
And months later, this morning, with the trial on the verge, THR reports that Paramount and Singleton have reached a settlement to end the suit, although the terms of the deal aren't yet public. But we assume both sides are content with whatever those terms are.
Worth noting, one of the other two films that Singleton claims Paramount owed him, was a proposed Spike Lee-directed concert film starring Tracy Morgan.