14 DAY TRIAL // Just as Michael Jackson’s troubled financial situation seemed to have taken a turn for the better, once the announcement that the “Thriller” video would be remade into a Broadway musical was made, the King of Pop is again dragged to court. This time, it’s filmmaker John Landis who initiated a legal action for not receiving four years’ worth of royalties for his work on “Thriller.”
In court papers filed the other day, Landis claims that when he wrote and directed the classic video for “Thriller,” a contract was also signed stipulating that he would get 50% of all profits ever made from it. This was reportedly taking place in 1983, and the deal went smoothly until four years ago, when Michael stopped all payments towards Landis. It is because of this that he took the matter to court, the filmmaker said.
According to the court papers, Jackson displayed “fraudulent, malicious and oppressive conduct,” failing to “provide any accounting of the ‘Thriller’ profits for the past four years and earlier, and failed to pay Landis his 50 per cent cut of the net proceeds.” However, the documents do not make any mention of how much Landis is owed for the past years of unpaid royalties, but speculation has it that he will be asking for about $1 million and some change.
Queried by the media, Landis’ attorney wanted to make it clear that this was not a case of a celebrity being ripped-off by former associates. Since the filmmaker is the one behind one of Michael’s greatest and most memorable videos, then it’s only his right to ask for proper compensation. The matter was taken to court only because the other routes of communications failed to provide a solution that would satisfy both parties, he also said.
“I can’t understand what they are doing to John Landis’ company. It is such a straight-ahead thing. It makes no sense at all to me.” the attorney also stated for the media.