The saga continues for the continually delayed release of the gay romantic dramedy, “I Love You Phillip Morris,” starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor.
After five different scheduled and canceled release dates, we reported back in April that the current American distributor for the film, Consolidated Pictures Group, faced losing the rights to the film after a financier of the picture, EuropaCorp, cited breach of contract. CPG were to pay $3 million once they received the canisters and 90 days after they had the reels in hand. EuropaCorp claim they were still outstanding on their balance. The matter is now going to court.
CPG claims that EuropaCorp didn’t deliver the film on time as they say they did, and breached terms of the contract by selling rights to the movie to airlines. Moreover, and somewhat bizarrely, CPG is also saying that failure to pay isn’t enough of a reason to scuttle any agreements.
In a preliminary ruling, “California District Court Judge Dale Fischer says EuropaCorp is likely to succeed on the merits of its claims and portrays the defendant’s arguments as weak.” The matter is now headed to Independent Film & Television Alliance for arbitration sometime in the next couple of months.
Hilariously, CPG says the film will now come out in October, but we don’t believe that for one second. Back in April when this issue first reared its head, Newmarket were said to be waiting in the wings to snag the North American rights for the film. We’d be surprised if CPG managed to hold on to the rights to the film considering how ugly this has gotten.
