Disney and Financial Partner TSG Settle Lawsuit Over ‘Hollywood Accounting’ – Deadline

Everett Group

Disney and TSG Entertainment Finance settled lawsuits as of August 2023 when the financier sued the media giant for “rampant self-dealing” and breach of the revenue-sharing contract between the two parties.

A Disney spokesperson said: “The matter has been resolved.”

TSG said it has financed more than 140 films worth $3.3 billion over the years with Fox, which Disney acquired in 2019, including Avatar: The Way of Water, Bohemian Rhapsody, Deadpool, Deadpool 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Logan, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Martian, The Grand Budapest Hotel, JoJo Rabbit, The Banshees of Inisherin, Hidden Figures, The Shape of Water And Empire of Light.

Fox promised TSG a share of gross picture receipts under the two companies’ long-term syndication agreement, but that the studio used “virtually every trick in the Hollywood accounting book” to not pay, TSG’s lawsuit filed last August in Los Angeles County Circuit Court said. . The financier accused Disney/Fox of self-dealing with FX, Hulu and Disney+, and said its revenues had begun to shrink and that its audit showed contract violations. It did not specify which films were examined.

Elsewhere in the suit, she mentioned his 2017 Oscar win Water shapeSaying that Fox “gave away foreign currency in a behind-the-scenes side deal that shaved approximately $4 million off the previously agreed-upon price between the parties.”

TSG said the studio promised to distribute co-financed films “on a fair, reasonable, good faith, and non-discriminatory basis” but did not, citing the shortening of exclusive theatrical windows undertaken by former CEO Bob Chapek in favor of pushing content to Disney+ to increase streaming provider subscriptions. , reducing the theatrical revenues that TSG relied on.

This was a problem for others as well. Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit against Disney over the release of the film Black Widow Across both theaters and Disney+ in 2021. “By 2022, this reckless Disney strategy, Fox’s pattern of methodical self-dealing and holding Hollywood accountable, had starved TSG of the cash it needed to fund future eligible pictures. “But because of this lack of liquidity, TSG could have invested fully in additional films produced by Fox and reaped the full financial benefits associated with maximizing its investment in these eligible films.”