Benedict Cumberbatch’s production banner SunnyMarch has been sued by Portobello Productions over the rights to Roald Dahl’s Danny the Champion of the World, Variety has reported.
Cumberbatch, who is nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Netflix’s The Power of the Dog, and his producing partner Adam Ackland entered into a co-production agreement with Portobello in November 2019 to make a film adaptation of Dahl’s novel, which was originally published in 1975.
According to the Variety report, Cumberbatch was also supposed to feature in the film as the titular character’s father, although this was subject to the actor’s availability and approval of the script.
Despite commissioning and paying writer David Nicholls for the first draft, Portobello Productions has alleged in the court filings that they did not hear back from either Cumberbatch or Ackland. The agreement also required the two parties to hire a director and revise the script with Nicholls before sharing it with financiers and actors – none of which materialised. Meanwhile, according to the suit, Cumberbatch went ahead with various other projects, including Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Power of the Dog.
As per the co-production agreement, Portobello could terminate the contract if SunnyMarch or Cumberbatch failed to revise the script within 12 months of it being delivered.
Portobello Productions thus sent a notice to SunnyMarch in December 2021, terminating the contract and reclaiming ownership of the script. However, SunnyMarch’s lawyers responded in January that Portobello was not entitled to terminate the agreement.
The latter is thus seeking a court declaration confirming the termination of the contract and that SunnyMarch has no continued rights to the script.
SunnyMarch is yet to file a defence statement.
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It is to be noted that all literary works of Roald Dahl are managed by The Roald Dahl Story Company, which was acquired by Netflix in September 2021. As part of the deal, the streaming giant is set to bring forth a series of animated and live action films and TV, publishing, games, immersive experiences, live theatre, consumer products, and more.
It is not clear if The Roald Dahl Story Company was involved in the production of Danny the Champion of the World with SunnyMarch and Portobello. They are, however, not named in the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, in January, it was reported that Cumberbatch will be a part of a feature film adaptation of Dahl’s short story collection, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More. He is set to appear in the Wes Anderson-directed project alongside actors Dev Patel, Ralph Fiennes and Ben Kingsley.