Producers Looking to Kill Machete Kills

Steve Barton   |  

Nov 21, 2012

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In the world of Machete nothing is ever easy for the blade-wielding Super-Mexican. Sure he gets all the babes in the movies, but in real life things aren’t as pleasurable. In fact, we may not even get to see the title character’s latest rampage.

According to Deadline, Overnight Productions today said it wants to cut ties with Robert Rodriguez’s Quick Draw Productions over the rights to Machete Kills. If successful, the court action could stop the release of the film – which Open Road acquired for distribution from Quick Draw last month. In the complaint filed Tuesday, the producers of 2010’s Machete are seeking to terminate the April 2012 agreement in which they granted director/producer Rodriguez the rights to make another action movie about the rogue Mexican Federale. The rights would revert back to Rick Schwartz’s Overnight. The plaintiffs are seeking $2 million in damages.

Overnight claims that earlier this month they were not provided with Texas tax credit information as required under the agreement with Rodriguez’s company. And then there is the matter of Schwartz’s fee. “Defendants have also failed and refused to provide the required budget information to Overnight Productions so that it can determine the producer fee owed with respect to the sequel”. The plaintiffs estimate that they are owed in excess of $250,000 in this aspect of their legal action.

¡Ay, carumba!

The film is expected to have a wide release in 2013.

Michelle Rodriguez, Sofia Vergara, Amber Heard, Charlie Sheen, Lady Gaga, Antonio Banderas, Jessica Alba, Demian Bichir, Alexa Vega, Vanessa Hudgens, Cuba Gooding, Jr., William Sadler, Marko Zaror, and Mel Gibson also star.

Machete Kills finds the titular ex-federale (Danny Trejo) recruited by the U.S. government to stop a terrorist named Mendez the Madman, who happens to be Mexico’s leading cartel dealer. Mel Gibson co-stars as Luther Voz, a cunning arms dealer and death merchant who aims to spread war across the planet by launching a missile.

Look for more soon!