The estate of author and creator Michael Crichton has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Television, accusing the studio of repackaging plans for an "ER" reboot under the guise of a new medical drama series titled The Pitt. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that Warner Bros. and several former ER alumni, including Noah Wyle, John Wells, and R. Scott Gemmill, bypassed Crichton's rights after failing to secure a deal for an official reboot due to a dispute over crediting the late writer as the show's creator.
According to the complaint, the Crichton estate, represented by his widow Sherri Crichton, asserts that Warner Bros. engaged in a "pattern of conduct" designed to circumvent Crichton’s contractual rights to the ER franchise. These rights were safeguarded by a "frozen rights" provision, which prevents any production derived from ER without the consent of Crichton’s estate.
The legal dispute centers around The Pitt, a 15-episode series ordered straight-to-series by Max (formerly HBO Max), which shares significant similarities with ER. The new show, set in a modern-day hospital in Pittsburgh, is described as a "realistic examination of the challenges facing healthcare workers." However, the lawsuit argues that The Pitt is simply a thinly veiled continuation of ER that attempts to sidestep Crichton’s legal protections by changing the setting from Chicago to Pittsburgh.
Sherri Crichton alleges that Warner Bros. initially offered a deal in 2022 to revive ER but refused to negotiate on the "created by" credit for Michael Crichton. Despite a tentative agreement that included a $5 million personal guarantee from John Wells, Warner Bros. later reneged and proposed less favorable financial terms. The lawsuit claims Warner Bros. moved forward with The Pitt without proper acknowledgment of Crichton’s contributions, infringing upon his intellectual property rights.
In a statement, Warner Bros. defended the originality of The Pitt, stating, "Any suggestion otherwise is false," and vowed to "vigorously defend against these meritless claims."
The lawsuit also references another dispute involving Westworld, an HBO series based on Crichton’s 1973 film. Crichton was only given a "based on" credit in the end credits, rather than a "created by" credit, which the estate argues undermines his legacy.
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