Deadpool 2 hit theatres earlier this year, but there was still one outstanding issue with the original film that needed to be resolved. A lawsuit had been ongoing ever since the first Deadpool movie when a Utah theater was found to be in violation of a state law that prohibited alcohol from being served in locations where sexual content was being broadcast. Since the first movie contained a fairly extensive sex montage, the theater, named Brewvies, was cited by the state. The theater was hit with a $25,000 fine and was to see its alcohol license temporarily suspended, which could have been a killing blow to a business that's very name was all about the fact that you could drink while seeing movies. The theater has now won the case and a federal judge has ordered the state to pay the theater's legal fees, which total nearly a half million dollars.
The total legal bill ordered by the court to be paid to Brewvies attorney Rockey Anderson comes to $474,455.22. The lawyer originally asked for $596,906.35, but the state objected to the amount as excessive and the firm did reduce the amount. However, that's still not a tiny chunk of change that the state now has to pay out by virtue of fighting over a law which a federal judge eventually determined was unconstitutional.
Not all of the money will actually be going to the lawyer, a large portion will actually belong to DKT Liberty Project in Washington, D.C.a non-profit organization that came to the theater's defense.
Judge David Nuffer doesn't hold his tongue much in the decision, as quoted by the Salt Lake Tribune he takes the state of Utah to task for defending this law saying that the judgment could have been avoided if lawmakers "had exercised a little wisdom." Specifically, the judge referenced a recent case in Idaho where another theater was found in violation of a similar law after showing 50 Shades of Grey. In that case, the state decided to review the law before enforcing the violation and eventually decided to change the law. Utah has now done the same as the legislature has already modified the law in question, but only after this case was brought.
This makes the case incredibly expensive for the state of Utah to have brought. In addition to the nearly half million dollars that Utah now has to pay out, there's the cost that the state itself had to pay in order to bring the suit and defend the law. If the state spent as much money as the defendants did, then we're looking at $1 million or more that Utah spent on the case of selling beer to people watching Deadpool.
