From left, Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean portray members of the spoof British band Spinal Tap in Rob Reiner’s 1984 rockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.
From left, Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean portray members of the spoof British band Spinal Tap in Rob Reiner's 1984 rockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.
Spinal Tap is regrouping to demand that聽Vivendi SA, the distributor of the 1984 cult film, give them some money.
Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Rob Reiner 鈥 who played singer Nigel Tufnel, lead guitarist David St. Hubbins and director Marty Di Bergi in the 1984 mock documentary This Is Spinal Tap 鈥 joined bass player Harry Shearer鈥檚 lawsuit filed in California against Vivendi. The revised complaint demands $400 million (U.S.) in damages for 鈥渁nti-competitive and unfair business practices, as well as fraudulent accounting,鈥 the men said Wednesday in a statement.
The film followed the star-crossed and musically challenged heavy-metal band on a North American tour, and helped usher in a genre satirizing serious films. It popularized lines such as 鈥淭his goes to 11,鈥 and introduced songs such as 鈥淕imme Some Money,鈥 鈥淏ig Bottom鈥 and 鈥淭onight I鈥檓 Gonna Rock You Tonight.鈥 It was added to the U.S. Library of Congress as an important work, despite grossing what聽Box Office Mojo estimated as just $4.5 million in U.S. theatres.
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鈥淲hat makes this case so egregious is the prolonged and deliberate concealment of profit and the purposeful manipulation of revenue allocation between various Vivendi subsidiaries 鈥 to the detriment of the creative talent behind the band and film,鈥 Reiner said in the statement.
A Vivendi spokesman declined to discuss the lawsuit, saying the company doesn鈥檛 comment on ongoing litigation.
Shearer asked for $125 million in his original October filing. The lawsuit alleges that the Paris-based company made millions from videos and music from the film but failed to share the income with the actors and creators.
The men鈥檚 statement said that Vivendi maintains that the four creators鈥 share of total worldwide merchandising income between 1984 and 2006 was $81. The French company estimated the total income from soundtrack music sales between 1989 and 2006 at $98, they said.
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