U.S. District Court rejects writer Shaun Gray’s bid for share in Tom Cruise’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’
The movie grossed $1.5 billion worldwide following its theatrical release in 2022
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has ruled in favor of Paramount Global by rejecting writer Shaun Gray’s bid for a share of profits from the studio’s blockbuster Tom Cruise movie ‘Top Gun: Maverick’.
Though allowing a part of the case, Judge Jed Rakoff said that Gray failed to exhibit that he was entitled to part of the film’s copyright based on his work on the movie’s script. He, however, declined to dismiss Gray’s copyright infringement claim against Paramount.
In the two-page order, the judge stated that in due course, he would publish a separate opinion outlining his reasoning.
Gray’s attorney Marc Toberoff remarked that he and his client were “gratified that the court recognizes the copyright infringement claim and they look forward to securing justice at trial.”
A cousin of Eric Singer, screenwriter of ‘Top Gun’, Gray sued Paramount in April, stating that singer and director Joseph Kosinski approached him in 2017 for co-writing ‘Top Gun: Maverick’s screenplay.
Gray claimed to have written several scenes that appeared in the movie, including multiple fighter jet flight scenes, and added that he was the film’s only writer. He was not subject to a work-made-for-hire agreement to share the profits and copyright.
Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel to the 1986 hit Top Gun, grossed $1.5 billion worldwide following its theatrical release in 2022.
Recently, Paramount had told the court that Gray “never received any kind of credit for Top Gun: Maverick or on any screenplay draft,” and that he had “no viable claim” against the studio.
While Marc Toberoff of Toberoff & Associates appeared for Gray, Paramount was represented by Molly Lens, Danielle Feuer and Matthew Kaiser of O’Melveny & Myers.