The 'Hercules'/Kevin Sorbo Lawsuit With Universal Is Over

Eonline has broke news today that Kevin Sorbo's lawsuit against Universal for profits regarding Hercules: The Legendary Journeys was thrown out by a Los Angeles Court. Here is an excerpt of the news:

"Kevin Sorbo won't be getting that Herculean payday anytime soon. Part of the actor's lawsuit against Universal Studios, in which he claimed he was entitled to 8 percent of the grosses from the syndicated television show Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, or, about $5 million, has been dismissed. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Hess granted Universal's motion to have the case thrown out Thursday after ruling that there were insufficient facts to support Sorbo's claim of fraud. In court documents, Sorbo accused the studio of cooking the books to cheat him out of his rightful paycheck for starring in what his camp referred to as the most-watched TV show in the world. Universal, meanwhile, argued that the actor was just after $5 million in punitive damages and had no cause of action for a fraud case. "

The article also goes onto mention that Kevin Sorbo wanted to leave the show half way through the series because of the extensive work schedule. Although Sorbo has his 'beef' with Universal over Hercules, lets not assume that Sorbo never wants anything to do with the character or the show. Sorbo has gone out and done commentaries and special features for the Hercules DVD sets. Now lets not forget, Kevin Sorbo wasn't the only one from the Raimi/Tapert camp suing Universal over Profits. When Sorbo filed the initial lawsuit 3 years ago, Lucy Lawless was also was also suing Universal over the profits she was allegedly owed for her work on Xena: Warrior Princess. Eonline is reporting that Lawless "has since reached a settlement with the studio."

The reason why all these lawsuits are so interesting is because they might determine the fate of a Xena movie. A Hercules movie was unlikely before the lawsuit and now, after the lawsuit, will clearly never be made. Now that all of the legal issues have pretty much been resolved, and since Lucy Lawless has come to an agreement with Universal, developments into a Xena movie might rise as long as Universal is backing the production of the movie. A few years ago it was reported that Rob Tapert was trying to make a Xena movie himself but was struggling to get the rights from Universal. Time will tell whether we see a Xena movie get made in the near future. Since the box-office success of female lead super-heroes has been in question as of late (the poor success of Catwoman and Elektra vs. the great success of Underworld for example), Universal will most likely be looking at how successful Joss Whedon's Wonder Woman will be before it greenlights a movie starring the Warrior Princess, thats if indeed Universal still owns the rights to the character. Either way, I hope a Xena movie gets made because we might see Bruce Campbell pop up in it as an elderly Autolycus.

You can read the full article here.