Chris Mallick vs Paramount pictures

Middle Pictures inc. vs Paramount Pictures, Chris Mallick Latest news

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The producer of the major motion picture "Middle Men" has filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Paramount Pictures based on claims the studio failed to properly distribute and promote the movie in order to depress box office receipts and the producer's rights to royalties. Instead, the filing claims, Paramount acquired the movie only to supplement the library it licenses to its own cable channel, EPIX, as well as to Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu.

The lawsuit was filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Paramount is a subsidiary of Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB.)

The 2010 drama, produced by Christopher Mallick of Middle Pictures, Inc. and directed by George Gallo ("Midnight Run"), starred box office heavyweights Luke Wilson ("The Royal Tannenbaums," "Old School"), Giovanni Ribisi ("Avatar," "Ted"), and Academy Award-nominated actor James Caan ("The Godfather"). "Middle Men" tells the story of the development of online credit card billing services and the birth of internet pornography.

The lawsuit says that Middle Pictures, Inc. paid Paramount almost $7 million dollars to promote and distribute the film, but that Paramount limited the film's initial release in order to keep the distribution funds and avoid paying box office revenues. Promotion was scant, and, in its opening weekend, the film was shown on only a few screens. Barely exhibited and under-promoted by Paramount, "Middle Men" predictably failed at the box office.

The lawsuit alleges that Paramount then engaged in self-dealing by licensing the film at a discounted price to EPIX, a premium cable channel in which Paramount has a 43-percent ownership interest. Paramount further leveraged the film as an asset by making it available online through Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and video-on-demand, though the producer says it has not received its fair share of these proceeds.

"We are confident the evidence will prove that Paramount didn't promote or release this critically-acclaimed film to be a box office success. Rather, it rolled 'Middle Men' into a bundle of other Paramount products and then marketed that bundle to serve Paramount's financial interests at the expense of the independent production company that made and paid for 'Middle Men,'" says Jeffrey Simon of Dallas-based Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett, PC, which represents Middle Pictures, Inc.

The lawsuit alleges that Paramount's opaque recordkeeping prevented Middle Pictures from determining how much of its money Paramount spent on marketing and distributing the film. In addition, the producer says a forensic audit, while incomplete due to Paramount's refusal to supply data, shows that Paramount owes it more than $7 million to date in unpaid revenues generated through both cable viewership and streaming, a number that represents only a fraction of the total damages in the case.

The case is Middle Pictures, Inc., v. Paramount Pictures Corporation, et al., No. BC 633213.

Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett, PC, is a nationally-recognized trial law firm with a reputation for creative and aggressive representation of clients in a wide variety of practice areas, including serious commercial litigation, toxic torts, and catastrophic personal injury. For more information, visit http://sgpblaw.com.

Contact Mark Annick at 800-559-4534 or mark@androvett.com.

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Christopher Mallick New News Chris mallick Vs. Paramount pictures

Christopher Mallick Net Worth, Biography, Wiki 2016

Christopher John Mallick is a Texas-born American businessman who is best known for being the creator of “ePassporte”, an online payment transfer company. Born on 12 February 1959 into a family with Lebanese heritage, he is currently the owner as well as founder of Oxymoron Entertainment Inc. He is also one of the noted businessmen in America who has a movie made on his biography entitled “Middle Men”.

A multimillionaire businessman and a hyped entrepreneur in America, how rich is Christopher Mallick as of 2015? Sources estimate that Christopher Mallick has a net worth of $70 million, his different business ventures obviously being the major source of his income. Mostly, his wealth has been amassed from being the previous owner of “ePassporte”, while currently he has been earning from being the founder and owner of “Oxymoron Entertainment Inc.”.

Christopher Mallick Net Worth $70 Million

Raised in Texas, Christopher started his journey as a businessman at the age of 20 years, working for Paycom. After excelling himself in business with different ventures, with funds earned he was apparently able to became one of the innovative businessmen in America when he created ePassporte which was basically an internet-based money transfer company. Established in 2003, this company allowed its clients to pay money via internet by keeping up a linkage between different websites and banks. This company also had Visa ATM cards made available to clients. Although this on-line payment company was becoming popular among many people in USA, the company ceased to exist in 2010.

Mallick became a news highlight with ePassporte’s downfall, as he was accused of embezzling money from his clients. The fact is that all the wallet moneys from ePassporte have still not been paid back to their owner/depositors although it has been years since Mallick signed papers promising to pay all of his clients. Clearly, this business venture has paid a lot to Christopher and has a big hand in making him a multi-millionaire as of today. After ePassporte, Christopher is at the moment enjoying his time being the founder of “Oxymoron Entertainment Inc.”.

His new venture has not been able to do wonders in the mainstream cinemas despite millions being spent in the making of movies like “Middlemen” and “Columbus Circle”. Balancing the box-office fallout, Christopher released a documentary movie “After Porn Ends” in 2012, which managed to turn some heads. Apart from these ventures, he has also founded and launched multiple billing companies and a 3D conversion company named “StereoD LLC”. All of these ventures must have added to Mallick’s wealth, legally or not.

As for his personal life, Christopher Mallick is still a known name in media, mostly noted for his alleged embezzlements. He is also highly tagged with the porn industry of America as he was connected with on-line adult sites while being the CEO of online billing company “Paycom”. Although his personal life is not very public, his relationship with Christy Taylor Barnes, also a former Paycom employee, enabled him to start ePassporte. Otherwise little is known of any relationships. For now, all we know is that 56 years old Christopher Mallick has been enjoying his days as a businessman who has already amassed a net worth of $70 million, allegedly at other peoples’ expense.

Chris Mallick Real Biography

Christopher Mallick: (born February 12, 1959) is a Texas-born film producer, who began his professional career in business when he launched multiple billing companies, including one of the Internet’s first third-party billing services. Mallick transitioned into the Hollywood film industry with the completion of his first feature film, Middle Men, establishing himself as a creative force among the top producers in the entertainment industry. He is the founder and owner of one of Hollywood’s most modern and inventive production companies, Oxymoron Entertainment, which launched in 2006. Mallick’s thirty years as an innovator and creative leader brings real-life experience to the creation of Middle Men, as well as his newest project, Columbus Circle (2011).

Mallick teamed up with noted writer/director George Gallo and writer Andy Weiss for Middle Men, starring Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi, Gabriel Macht, and James Caan. Middle Men premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, and was selected as the official closing night film of both the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and the Phoenix Film Festival that same year.

With a passion for puzzling storylines, Mallick’s most current film is the mystery thriller, Columbus Circle, also starring Giovanni Ribisi, along with Selma Blair, Amy Smart and Jason Lee. Additionally, Mallick produced the documentary, “Exxxit: Life After Porn” and is developing a number of feature length films and television shows. Some projects include: Ninety, a feature Action/Thriller written by Scott Milam and to be directed by Darren Lynn Bousman; White Boy Rick, a biographical drama based on the true-life events of Rick Wershe Jr; “Middle Men,” an episodic drama/comedy based on the Motion Picture Middle Men; and numerous other projects in development.

Chris Mallick Vs Paramount Pictures latest news

The producer of the 2010 drama “Middle Men” claims that Paramount Pictures breached an agreement to properly promote and distribute the movie, and instead used it as part of a library of films to sell to top streaming services.

The lawsuit, filed by Middle Pictures on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, also claims that Paramount failed to pay or account for profits from the movie. The lawsuit claims that the studio reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from a Netflix deal for its library, but that Middle Pictures has seen little of it.

The movie, starring Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi, and James Caan, is the story of the development of online credit card billing services and the birth of Internet porn. Middle Pictures’ Christopher Mallick produced and George Gallo directed. It collected less than $1 million at the domestic box office.

In the lawsuit, Middle Pictures said that the movie cost $21.5 million to produce, and it paid Paramount an additional $6.8 million to promote its release. Paramount had no financial investment in the movie, according to the lawsuit, and made “little effort” to assure its box office success. Paramount limited the movie’s release to a scant number of screens, “thereby causing it to fail at the box office and then suffer the consequential effects on subsequent revenues.”

The suit claims that the distribution was part of Paramount’s “broader strategy to freely acquire valuable content that it could later use to create packaged libraries for sale to video-on-demand and streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.”

The lawsuit contends that Paramount failed to properly account for the way it spent the $6.8 million meant for promotion and advertising, as well as the money it has received in aftermarkets. It says that Paramount owes at least $7 million from “new media” revenues. The suit makes a series of claims, including breach of contract, fraudulent inducement, and accounting.

Another claim is that Paramount engaged in self-dealing by licensing the movie at a discounted price to Epix, in which it has a 43% ownership stake.

The lawsuit was filed by Jeffrey Simon of Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett in Dallas.

A spokeswoman for Paramount did not immediately respond to a request for comment.