On the heels of Anthony Kaufman's piece in indieWIRE yesterday offering new details into THINKFilm's financial situation, Oscar winning director Alex Gibney has filed a lawsuit against THINKFilm, alleging non-performance and fraud. Specifically, Gibney's production company, X-Ray Productions asserts in its suit that THINK didn't have the financial resources to properly release TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE nor to take advantage of its Oscar victory. TAXI has made just $275K, the lowest take for a Best Documentary Oscar winner in nearly a decade. With THINK already the subject of various lawsuits, it appears that the claimants are hoping that the suit may prompt the film to be returned to the filmmakers.
From a just released press release from X-Ray:
"X-Ray asserts, among other things, that ThinkFilm did not have the financial resources to properly release the film and fraudulently concealed this fact from the film’s creative team, its investors and the film’s sales agent, Cinetic Media Inc. Further, the demand asserts that ThinkFilm’s actions damaged “Taxi,” its commercial reputation and its future possibilities for commercial success. X-Ray seeks damages, payment of legal fees as well as a termination of its agreement with ThinkFilm and a return of its distribution rights.
(...)In conversations with some of the film’s principals, it seems clear that many of ThinkFilm’s problems are the result of actions taken by its parent company, Capitol Films, and its principal, David Bergstein. Glascoff noted that Mark Urman, President of ThinkFilm may have been frustrated by his inability to get needed cash flow from Capitol. “Nevertheless,” notes Glascoff, “lack of disclosure was a serious problem.”
Gibney is less diplomatic. “I was particularly upset,” says Gibney, “ by the way that Think took advantage of the many small vendors – publicists and web designers – who gave Think discounts because of the important message that “Taxi” had to convey. Rather than reward them for their hard work – which helped to earn the film an Oscar – ThinkFilm is refusing to pay them.”
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