By April MacIntyre Mar 21, 2009, 19:09 GMT
Warren Beatty's rights to the Dick Tracy property are being disputed by Tribune Media.
Warren Beatty -The character Dick Tracy was portrayed by Beatty in the 1990 film he also directed. It was his short-lived romance with costar Madonna, who portrayed Breathless Mahoney, that made a bigger splash than the film itself.© Glenn Harris / PR Photos
The character Dick Tracy was portrayed by Beatty in the 1990 film he also directed. It was his short-lived romance with costar Madonna, who portrayed Breathless Mahoney, that made a bigger splash than the film itself.
Now Tribune Media Services has filed suit late Thursday to claim rights Hollywood to the comic-strip detective.
Tribune Co. recently filed for Chapter 11 protection last December, and in its reorganization the company now wants a judge to establish the rights to the fictional character, which according to the Chicago Tribune, claims are “worth, potentially, millions” to parent company Tribune Media Services and its creditors.
Beatty, 71, acquired rights to the character from Tribune in 1985 for his movie “Dick Tracy."
The media company claims that Beatty was supposed to make another Tracy film or smallscreen effort to retain the rights.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Beatty filed suit in Los Angeles federal court last November after the original strip’s publisher asserted those rights had reverted back to it, arguing he had begun work on a Dick Tracy TV special before the deadline TMS had established two years earlier.
“Warren has always viewed Dick Tracy as a very valuable, interesting iconic character,” attorney Charles Shephard told Tribune Co.’s Los Angeles Times. “He has all sorts of creative thoughts about what he might do with this character.”
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