Kevin Costner sues ‘Robin Hood’ producers over profits

London: Kevin Costner has sued the producers of ‘Robin Hood: Prince of thieves’ for reportedly cutting him out of his share of the film’s profits since 2010.

The 1991 movie was a box-office hit and had grossed 25 million dollars in its opening weekend. In court papers filed in the US on Tuesday, the 57-year-old actor claimed that Morgan Creek Productions had “concealed” payments over the last two years, the BBC reported. The ‘Dances with Wolves’ star is now seeking unspecified damages from the company. Legal papers filed by Costner stated that ‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves’ has brought in more than 390 million dollars at the worldwide box office, and has made “tens of millions more” from home video, and repeated showings on TVs around the world. According to Deadline Hollywood, the legal papers included four actions against the studio that included breach of contract, fraud, breach of implied covenant or good faith dealing, and unjust dealing. His legal team has claimed that when the actor agreed to play the role of Robin Hood, he was “promised” a share in the film’s profits. However, they claimed that when the time came to share the money, they “delayed, obfuscated, concealed and reneged.” “Morgan Creek was less than forthcoming,” the papers stated. Costner also claimed that the company had under-reported movie’s home video sales by 90 percent and violated the deal by assigning the distribution rights to an international subsidiary without his knowledge in 2006. James Robinson, the chief executive of Morgan Creek, has described the dispute as minor and insignificant, the Hollywood Reporter. “Why is it, after 22 years, Mr Costner finds fault with our accounting procedures or for that matter our way of doing business?” he said. “We have paid him over 40 million dollars. I think we’ve been very nice to him. I wonder how much money he has made from other films where he is participant. We’ve been very straight with him,” he added. ANI