 Beatty directed and starred in the 1990 film Dick Tracy |
A row has broken out over who owns the rights to Dick Tracy, after Warren Beaty said he wanted to make a new film about the comic book detective. The actor is suing US company Tribune Media for $30m (�16.3m), accusing it of violating a complex agreement over control of the franchise.
A 1985 deal gave Beatty control of the Dick Tracy character, but he says they were wrongly taken back by Tribune.
The 1990 film Dick Tracy featured Beatty and Madonna in starring roles.
In the legal action, Beatty contends he gave the rights to Disney to produce the 1990 film, which Beatty directed.
The film made more than $100m (�54m).
He says that Tribune attempted to take back the rights in 2002, but not in accordance with the original deal.
Disney rejected Tribune's claim on the rights and handed most of them back to Beatty earlier this month, according to the actor's lawyer Bertram Fields.
Mr Fields said the original agreement was specifically drawn up to give Beatty a shot at making a sequel. "It was very carefully done and they just ignored it," he said.
"The Tribune is a big, powerful company and they think they can just run roughshod over people. They picked the wrong guy."
Tribune Media Services, which owns many US TV stations and newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, said it could not comment as it had not yet seen the lawsuit.
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They think they can just run roughshod over people. They picked the wrong guy
