Posted on 08/03/2005 8:34:09 AM PDT by kstewskis
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A US judge has finalized the settlement of a lawsuit brought by movie-goers who accused Hollywood's Sony studios of using a fake critic to trick them into seeing mediocre films, lawyers said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sony Pictures' Entertainment agreed to pay 1.5 million dollars to resolve the class-action suit filed in 2001 claiming the studio invented a bogus critic to heap praise on its movies, said the movie-goers' attorney Norman Blumenthal.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl finalized the decision in late July pre-empting a hearing in the case that had been scheduled for Tuesday, Blumenthal revealed.
The suit was filed following a report that Sony's Columbia Tristar unit had used glowing reviews allegedly written by the non-existent David Manning that heaped gushing praise on films including "Hollow Man" and "A Knight's Tale."
The angry cinema-fans accused the studio of misleading them with made-up quotes from Manning that proclaimed Australian actor Heath Ledger was "this year's hottest new star" following his role in 2001's "A Knight's Tale."
Quotes attributed to Manning in studio blurb also termed the films "Hollow Man," starring Kevin Bacon, and "Vertical Limit" as "stupendous."
Sony allegedly advertised quotes from "reviews" written by Manning in publicity materials in which the studio claimed the critic worked for the tiny Ridgefield Press newspaper in the eastern US state of Connecticut.
Sony also used endorsements by people who turned out to be Sony employees, the attorneys for the plaintiffs said in a legal notice concerning the settlement that was agreed in March 2004 and given final approval last month.
Under the settlement deal, Sony Pictures admitted no liability but agreed to fork out 1.5 million dollars to settle the suit to avoid the cost and uncertainty of litigation, according to a court-ordered legal notice.
In return, the members of the class-action suit will release their claims against Sony.
The settlement class includes anyone who, between August 3, 2000, and October 31, 2001, purchased a movie ticket to see "Hollow Man," "Vertical Limit," "A Knight's Tale," "The Animal" or "The Patriot" with Mel Gibson in the United States.
After reports about the fictitious praise emerged in the press in 2001, Sony said it had reprimanded and suspended without pay two advertising executives following and internal probe into "fabricated quotes on four movie ads."
The scandal first emerged in Newsweek magazine and the Ridgefield Press later confirmed that Manning had never graced its small newsroom.
"Obviously, he never wrote a word for us," the paper's executive editor Jack Sanders told Court TV last year. "We're a one-town newspaper, which has very little touch with Hollywood."
In 2002, Sony rejected an offer by plaintiffs in the lawsuit for 4.5 million dollars.
But in early 2004, a California appeals court decision quashed a motion Sony filed to block the suit. An announcement that a settlement had been reached with followed soon afterwards.
So, these people sued and settled for 1.5 million (with a cool chunk of that going to the atty Blumenthal, et al.
All because they were led to believe a movie they were paying to see was good. Based on a subjective opinion they read.
Does anyone see anything wrong with this?
(btw welcome back!)
Everyone knows the critics are full of crap. In fact, I avoid movies that the critics praise.
Fake movie reviews. Fake documents in MSM. So what else is new? (Not much.)
All the while prosecuting people who download music....
I'm not surprised. I'm a big video game fan, and I've noticed some reviewers in video games giving some pretty good reviews to some games that are junk, but whose company had lots of money to throw around in advertising and such. After a short while I surmized that they were either not playing the games hardly at all or taking money from the side.
Oh brother. Wonder how much the lawyers made on this one?
Yes, with exception of these naiive (and greedy) people felt that someone owed them, because they went to a movie and it...wasn't to their liking.
It's a sick commentary on the "entitlement mentality" many in our society have.
Over a movie. Sheesh.
I just have a hard time figuring out why they needed a fake review for Gibson's "Patriot." One of the best movies I've seen in years. Maybe the liberal reviewers wouldn't give it a chance...
I have to guess most of the money goes to the lawyers. I bet most of the others get discount movie tickets.....
Good job Norman. Money for nothing.
This is NOT new.
It's called cross pollination in the biz and it happens everyday.
When one of the morning "News" shows has a bit about some upcoming movie its almost always little more than a promo thats been ordered by the parent company. Its the same with clothes (MTV), movies (CBS/Viacom) sports events (NASCAR owns the "Speed Channel" and amazingly the only 'speed' they promote, by and large is....NASCAR).
Lol.
It is unbelievable.
Most ALL of the movies from Sleazeywood are awful. I thought that MOST critics lied about how good the movies were.
This is about the slugdge suing the sludge about -- sludge.
Even the $1.5 is chump change.
The whole suit is a scam on the part of the lawyers representing the "class". They get cash, the "class" gets coupons. If the judge was smart, he/she would limit the fees of the lawyers to a small fraction of the settlement.
I think Sony got the shaft on this one.
I fail to see how this is any different that George W. Bush's bogus 'video news releases' touting his prescription drug benefit portion of the medicare 'reform' bill last year.
It's just more slick, big-city advertising duping the hicks in fly-over country.
Karen Ryan reporting...
Or, politicians paying journalists for favorable opinions or government bodies such as the HHS, creating thinly disguised propaganda euphemistically called, 'video news releases' to promote government legislation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.