Gerard Butler Sues Over Olympus Has Fallen Royalties

Gerard Butler has filed a lawsuit claiming he is owed at least $10 million (£7.2m) in compensation for his movie Olympus Has Fallen.

The star is suing Nu Image, Millennium Films and Padre Nuestro Productions for his 'fair share', with the suit claiming the movie's producer understated millions of dollars' worth of domestic and foreign receipts - and also failed to report $8m (£5.7m) that went to its own executives.

PA

The 2013 was a box office success, pulling in $170m (£122.2m) worldwide.

Butler reprised the role of Mike Banning for sequels London Has Fallen and Angel Has Fallen.

The lawsuit, published by Deadline, reads: "Producers have earned tens of millions of dollars from Olympus, but refuse to pay Butler a penny of the grosses and profits promised to him in the parties' agreement.

"Butler refuses to tolerate Defendants' misrepresentations and other wrongful conduct. Butler worked with Defendants to create a highly successful movie franchise. He demands his fair share."

It goes on: "Despite Olympus' tremendous success, it now appears that producers never intended to pay Butler his share of the grosses and profits.

"Instead, producers embarked on a scheme to grossly misrepresent the finances of the film to Butler, so that Butler would believe that no such payments were due."

Millennium Films

The suit claims Butler's contract entitled him to 10 percent of the movie's net profits as well as six percent of domestic adjusted gross receipts over $70m (£50.3m) and 12 percent of foreign adjusted gross receipts over $35m (£25.2m).

Butler's production company was also entitled to five percent of net profits as well as additional bonuses if the movie hit certain box office numbers.

However, the suit claims the actor was sent 'irregular accounting statements' by the producer, which Butler objects to.

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The suit states Butler went on to hire an auditor who claimed to have found that the domestic receipts were understated by $17.5m (£12.6m) and producers' receipts were understated by $12m (£8.6m).

The suit goes on to claim that the flick's producers took the full cost of the foreign publicity from the foreign receipts, even though foreign distributors had paid for half.

Topics: TV and Film

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19