Popular Posts

Sunday, November 29, 2015

What's Up At The Movies

Lawsuits Mount
Walkers during happier times
Over Paul Walker's Death


In September, CMG reported that, Meadow Rain, the daughter of Paul Walker, best known for his starring role in the Fast & Furious movies, had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Porsche (owned by Volkswagen).  The lawsuit alleges Porsche was aware that the 2005 Carrera GT that Walker, and friend, Roger Rodas (who also died in the crash) had stability issues and lacked safety features that would have saved both Walker's and Rodas' lives.

This week, Paul Walker's father also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Porsche.  Seeking unspecified damages, the senior Walker's suit was joined by another lawsuit, this one filed by Rodas' widow.

In response to these lawsuits Porsche issued the following statement. "Mr. Walker knowingly and voluntarily assumed all risks, perils, and dangers in respect to the use of the subject 2005 Carrera GT. That the perils, risks, and dangers were open and obvious and known to him, and that he chose to conduct himself in a manner as to expose himself to such peril, thus assuming all the risks involved in using the vehicle."

It has been documented that the Carrera was traveling at a high-rate of speed when the crash occurred.

Redstone Sued Over 'Mental Vacancy'
Redstone in recent photo


Sumner Redstone was sued last week regarding his mental competence and raised questions about the 92 year old's capability in overseeing the affairs of Viacom and the CBS Corporations.

Court documents describe Redstone as "mentally vacant, unable to speak intelligibly or eat on his own and prone to uncontrollable crying spells."  In response, his attorneys contend that the "litigation is a farce, it is a meritless action, riddled with lies, and a despicable invasion of privacy." Redstone's attorneys further added that "it proves only that the claimants will stop at nothing to peruse their personal financial agenda."

Redstone, who is reported to have a net worth of over $5.5 billion, owns Paramount Pictures. Although he has not managed any of his companies for sometime he has relied on Viacom's management and its Board to run the day-to-day affairs.  Philippe Dauman, Viacom's CEO is currently the person in charge of Redstone's healthcare directive and would make all decisions if Redstone should become totally incapacitated.

CMG only brings up this issue because Redstone's condition will have significant ramifications for the Paramount studio.  Outside of 'Mission Impossible:Rogue Nation', no other Paramount film made it into the top ten this year.  Paramount will only release 16 films this year and through November it had only 6.2% of the total U.S. box-office gross. Only 14 movies are scheduled for release in 2016.

Polanski Exonerated
Polanski exonerated


Roman Polanski will not be be extradited by Poland as the U.S. had requested.  In an almost 40 year-old case, Prosecutors in Krakow, Poland who sought extradition of Polanski said, "the court's refusal of the extradition closes the matter".

Polanski's reaction to the ruling was "great relief and satisfaction". The 82 year old Polanski currently resides in Paris and is now free to travel to Poland, his native country, where he is planning to film his next movie.

In 1977 Polanski pleaded guilty to having sex with a 13 year old girl during a photo-shoot in Los Angeles.  He then fled the U.S. fearing imprisonment and the U.S. authorities have been seeking his extradition since that time.

His notable movies include: 'Rosemary's Baby' 1968, 'Chinatown' 1974, 'The Tenent' 1976, 'Tess' 1979, and 'The Pianist' 2002.  Polanski's second wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered by members of the Charles Mansion family in 1969 while he was in Europe working on a movie.

Jim Lavorato

No comments:

Post a Comment