We just finished up an uncharacteristically good January, as some truly solid movies have debuted in the typically-lackluster month. Chief among these is Paddington 2, a family-friendly sequel to a similarly family-friendly 2015 original that has earned phenomenal reviews. Things have gone reasonably well for Paddington 2 on the fan side of things since its January 12 release, but now it looks like the business side is getting messy. Specifically, The Weinstein Company is now being sued over the film's distribution rights.
According to the report on the situation, Entertainment One Films Canada claims that The Weinstein Company owes millions of dollars following the latter's decision to pull out of its Paddington 2 distribution deal. The suit alleges that The Weinstein Company promised to give Canadian distribution rights to the company, but then opted to sell them to Warner Bros. instead.
There is a significant amount of money at stake in the suit. Per the THR report about the situation, Entertainment One Films Canada claims that The Weinstein Company has yet to pay it over $7.2 million for those distribution rights. As of right now, The Weinstein Company has not officially commented on the situation. And to think, all of this over an adorable bear with an affinity for marmalade sandwiches.
This case arguably appears to be a black eye on an otherwise very successful release for Paddington 2. The family-friendly live-action/animation hybrid movie has earned stellar reviews on Rotten Tomatoes (it still has a 100% rating several weeks after its initial debut) and the film has earned a very commendable (particularly by January standards) $193 million worldwide against a $50 million production budget.
This situation obviously isn't the only issue that has plagued The Weinstein Company in recent months. The company was already in the process of struggling financially in 2017, and then it was rocked by the industry-shaking sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein. We recently reported on the possibility that The Weinstein Company may be close to selling in order to prevent full-blown bankruptcy, and it looks like a rebrand (completely with a brand new name) may be on the horizon as well.
CinemaBlend will bring you any and all relevant updates related to this situation as new details are made available to us. Until then, you can hop over to our comprehensive 2018 movie premiere guide to see what else is set to debut on the big screen this year!
