Marcus Webb filed his lawsuit in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, October 25, reports Reuters. The suit states that Webb wrote a screenplay called "The Cordoba Caper." The suit also claims "The Expendables" is similar and "some places identical" to his film.
Webb reportedly registered "The Cordoba Caper" with the U.S. Copyright office in June 2006 and is now suing for unspecified damages for copyright infringement. He is also suing to stop the upcoming sequel by Stallone, Callaham, Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation and other production companies involved with the film, in order to prevent any more infringement on his copyright.
Stallone and other named in the lawsuit have not commented on the report.
"There can be no dispute that Stallone and/or Callaham had access to and copied protectable elements of the screenplay," the lawsuit said. The script was made available by Webb for the movie industry between 2006 and 2009, according to Reuters. Webb also claims he was deprived of potential earnings from the screenplay and film.
"'The Cordoba Caper' tells the story of a team of elite, highly-trained mercenaries hired to defeat General Garza, a rogue army general of a small Latin American country," the lawsuit stated.
"The Expendables is about a group of mercenaries who come for a mission to overthrow a dictator in Latin America. The film featured appearances by action stars like Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jet Li and Jason Statham. The film's sequel "The Expendables 2" is set for release on August 17, 2012.
Stallone recently lent his voice to the Joe the Lion character in the live-action film "The Zookeeper" with Kevin James and has an upcoming movie called "Bullet to the Head" with Christian
Slater due out on April 13, 2012. The actor is also set to launch a fashion line inspired by "Rocky" and "Rambo" in 2012
UPDATE
Reuters reports that Webb shopped his screenplay around to several studios between 2006 and 2009, and that the screenplay was “widely available” to potential buyers in the movie industry.
Do you think Stallone saw Webb’s screenplay?
The lawsuit reads:
“There can be no dispute that Stallone and/or Callaham had access to and copied protectable elements of the screenplay.”
Webb cites several examples where the two scripts are similar in his lawsuit, including the opening scene which involves “a hostage rescue at sea, off a foreign coast, which has nothing to do with the main plot.” The main villain in both movies, according Reuters, is General Garza, “a military dictator with a notorious human rights record.”
“The Expendables,” which was produced by Millennium and Nu Image and distributed by Lions Gate, was released worldwide on August 13, 2010. The movie featured an all-star action cast, including Jet Li, Jason Statham, and Dolph Lundgren, as well as a cameo from Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Webb says that he is owed earnings from “The Expendables,” which made $274.5 million worldwide.
Do you think Stallone stole the plot for “The Expendables” from Marcus Webb?
