I, Alex Cross Sparks Producers Lawsuit Over Claims Of Credit By Rivals

Producers of Summit Entertainment’s upcoming release I, Alex Cross directed by Rob Cohenwith Tyler Perry stepping into the role created by Morgan Freeman have filed suit against other producers who claim they should receive compensation and screen credit for the movie.Bill Block and Paul Hanson are partners in QED, which produced the project that Summit has acquired for distribution.QED claims in the suit that prolonged negotiations that began in 2008 with producersJan Korbelin and Marina Grasic (who withMark Lindsay have launched Cargo Entertainment)and their company Visitor Pictures failed to come to an agreement on Visitor’s involvement with the development of I, Alex Cross. QED claims it drafted and redrafted multiple memorandums of understanding for Visitors’ involvement which were all rejected and no agreement was reached or signed. In 2009 QED says it formally notified Visitors that all previous offers were withdrawn. QED asserts that development of the movie proceeded without Visitors, who “indeed sought to have no involvement,” according to the suit. Now that principal photography on I, Alex Cross has finished and the movie is expected to be released next year, QED claims that Visitors has resurfaced and is demanding compensation and screen credit, probably in preparation for legal action of their own. QED and other plaintiffs Suejack Inc. and JPB Businesses are seeking a court ruling in the case to remove the “cloud” cast over I, Alex Cross by Visitors’ claims before the movie is released. As for the movie, in addition to Perry as the detective, Lost‘sMatthew Fox plays a serial killer who murders Crosss wife as revenge for Cross thwarting an earlier attempted murder. Ed Burns plays Fox’s partner. Marc Moss wrote the script and director Cohen and he generated a new draft that takes some different turns than the novel.In addition to QED partners Block and Hanson, producers include Leopoldo Gout and Steve Bowen, who spearhead Pattersons film endeavors. The movie was packaged by WME.