Yahoo Finance Gerard Butler Alleges He Was Deprived of 'Fair Share' of Olympus Has Fallen Profits in $10M Lawsuit
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Gerard Butler is suing over his payout from one of his hit movies, claiming he wasn't given his fair share of the profits.
The 51-year-old movie star alleges that Nu Image Inc./Millennium Films "embarked on a comprehensive, premeditated scheme to deprive" him of his share of the profits from the 2013 film Olympus Has Fallen, according to court documents filed Friday and obtained by PEOPLE.
Butler accuses the company of deliberately misrepresenting and underreporting profits so that he wouldn't be paid the full agreed upon percentage of actual earnings.
"Producers have earned tens of millions of dollars from Olympus, but refuse to pay Butler a penny of the grosses and profits promised to him in the parties' agreement," read the documents. "... Butler refuses to tolerate Defendants' misrepresentations and other wrongful conduct. Butler worked with Defendants to create a highly successful movie franchise. He demands his fair share."
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Butler is requesting a trial by jury, asking for $10 million in damages plus additional fees and interest.
A spokesperson for Millennium Media did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
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Butler starred in and produced Olympus Has Fallen, which became a surprise box office hit and led to two sequels, London Has Fallen in 2016 and Angel Has Fallen in 2019.
Deadline reported in November that Butler would be reprising his role for a fourth film in the franchise titled Night Has Fallen. The outlet added Friday that the project is "ongoing" in development.
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Millennium is behind such recent action flicks like Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, Rambo: Last Blood, The Expendables, and 2018's Hunter Killer, which also starred Butler.
According to Millennium Media's official website, the independent film company "finances, produces, and sells worldwide five to eight star-driven films per year, with budgets between $20 and $80 million."
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Butler told Entertainment Weekly in June 2020 about returning for the upcoming fourth installment. "Yeah, I think you will be seeing another," he said at the time. "We're toying away with another really fantastic idea that we're working on at the moment that, obviously, we can't say too much about."
In October 2018, Butler discussed training to be a lawyer before pursuing his acting career. The Scottish star said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at the time, "Well, it depends what you mean by 'a lawyer.' I studied law for five years and then I trained as a lawyer for two years." He said he was "a bit of a high-flyer" until he began working in the industry and realized law as a career "was not for me."
