Road House release date in jeopardy after ‘AI’ lawsuit petitions to block distribution of Conor McGregor movie

The new Road House movie, a remake of the 1989 cult classic starring Patrick Swayze, is scheduled for release on March 21 through Amazon Video. But a new lawsuit filed against MGM Studios and its parent company, Amazon Studios, could delay the film’s release — or shelve the flick altogether.

That’s according to Deadline.

The copyright for Road House, previously owned by United Artists, is alleged to have reverted back to screenwriter R. Lance Hill last November. That termination clause put pressure on Amazon Studios — also mired in the SAG-AFTRA strike — to complete the troubled project before the Nov. 10 deadline.

Even if it meant (allegedly) using artificial intelligence (AI) to fill in the gaps.

“This case arises from Defendants’ blatant copyright infringement due to their willful failure to license the requisite motion picture and ancillary rights to Hill’s Screenplay underlying their derivative 2024 Remake as required by law,” attorney Marc Toberoff wrote in the 19-page complaint.

“Hill is further informed and believes and based thereon alleges that Defendants went so far as to take extreme measures to try to meet this deadline, at considerable additional cost, including by resorting to the use of AI during the 2023 strike of the Screen Actor’s Guild to replicate the voices of the 2024 Remake’s actors for purposes of Automatic Dialogue Replacement, all in knowing violation of the collective bargaining agreements of both SAG and the Director’s Guild of America to which Defendants were signatories.”

The remake stars Jake Gyllenhaal and former UFC champ Conor McGregor.

Road House has been plagued with issues from the start. Not only was production halted by the SAG-AFTRA strike, longtime Tinseltown producer Joel Silver — one of the names behind the original picture — was hastily tossed from the project. That was followed by the decision to block Road House from a theatrical release, leading director Doug Liman to boycott the movie.

As for Hill’s complaint, Amazon Studios denies the allegations.

“The lawsuit filed by R. Lance Hill regarding ‘Road House’ today is completely without merit and numerous allegations are categorically false,” an Amazon MGM Studios spokesperson said in a statement. “The film does not use any AI in place of actors’ voices. We look forward to defending ourselves against these claims.”

Expect more on this ongoing case before March 21.