Paramount Pictures, the film studio behind Top Gun: Maverick, has been sued by the family of Israeli writer Ehud Yonay, whose article inspired the original film in 1986.
Shosh and Yuval Yonay – the writer’s widow and son – claim Paramount no longer had rights to Ehud’s 1983 magazine article, ‘Top Guns’, when they released Top Gun: Maverick last month.
The film’s release was delayed from 2019 to 2022 by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Yonay estate claims Paramount’s rights expired in January 2020, under the US Copyright Act. The lawsuit claims to have notified Paramount in 2018 that their rights to the article would terminate in two years.
Paramount said in a statement: “These claims are without merit, and we will defend ourselves vigorously.”
In its opening two weeks, Top Gun: Maverick has been a massive success. The sequel earned $548m (£438m) within its first 10 days, and gave star-man Tom Cruise his first ever $100m (£80m) opening weekend at the box office.
The Yonay’s filed their suit in Los Angeles Federal Court on Monday.
Marc Toberoff, the lawyer representing the Yonays, told the BBC: “Much as Paramount wants to pretend otherwise, they made a sequel to Top Gun after they lost their copyright.” The lawsuit further claims the Top Gun franchise would not exist without Ehud’s “literary efforts and evocative prose and narrative.”
