Top Gun heirs sue Paramount over Maverick sequel
- An article by Ehud Yonay inspired the original 1986 Tom Cruise film, and the copyright reverted back to his family in January 2020
- Top Gun: Maverick is this year’s biggest box office hit, generating US$291 million in North America and US$548.6 million globally in its first 10 days
The family of the author whose article inspired the 1986 Tom Cruise film Top Gun on Monday sued Paramount Pictures for copyright infringement over this year’s blockbuster sequel Top Gun: Maverick.
According to a complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court, the Paramount Global unit failed to reacquire the rights to Ehud Yonay’s 1983 article “Top Guns” from the family before releasing the “derivative” sequel.
The lawsuit by Shosh Yonay and Yuval Yonay, who live in Israel and are respectively Ehud’s widow and son, seeks unspecified damages, including profits from Top Gun: Maverick, and to block distribution of the film or further sequels.
Paramount said in a statement: “These claims are without merit, and we will defend ourselves vigorously.”
Top Gun: Maverick is this year’s biggest box office hit, generating US$291 million in North America and US$548.6 million globally in its first 10 days of release.
The high-flying action film directed by Joseph Kosinski has received strong reviews, and has Cruise reprising his role as US Navy test pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.
