Producer Neal Moritz has spent the past 15 years trying to reboot “Cliffhanger,” the 1993 blockbuster starring Sylvester Stallone.
The project is finally coming to the big screen next year — but Stallone won’t be in it. And in a new lawsuit against the film’s financiers, Moritz explains why.
Moritz alleges that Rocket Science Industries has reneged on an agreement to pay him a $2.5 million producer fee. According to the complaint, Moritz and his partner, Toby Jaffe, spent years lining up talent for the film, and negotiated a deal for Stallone to star as the male lead.
Stallone was prepared to shoot the film in the fall of 2023, before the second season of “Tulsa King” went into production, on condition that his fee would be put in escrow — that is, guaranteed up front.
“But Rocket Science failed to secure Stallone’s commitment to do the Picture because it refused to guarantee Stallone’s fee,” the lawsuit states.
The producers nevertheless created a sizzle reel with Stallone envisioned as the lead, which was used to market the film to sales agents. But with Stallone not confirmed, the director, Ric Roman Waugh, ultimately backed out.
Moritz and Jaffe then worked to hire a new director, Jean-François Richet, and brought in a new writer, Melanie Toast, to rewrite the script, as they continued to try to get Stallone to commit to the project, which was pushed back to 2024. But Stallone’s scheduling conflict with “Tulsa King” and the lack of a guarantee meant that he was out, according to the lawsuit.
Richet then dropped out, prompting producers Moritz and Jaffe to hire yet another director, Jaume Collet-Serra. They then secured Lily James to play the female lead and tried to get Russell Crowe to replace Stallone. Crowe dropped out. The job eventually went to Pierce Brosnan.
In May 2024, Moritz and Jaffe were asked to defer all their producer fees. Rocket Science execs explained that they were experiencing budget problems, partly because the loss of Stallone meant lower guarantees for pre-sales in Spain, Latin America and Scandinavia, according to the complaint. The fees for the director and lead cast had come in higher than expected, and the lenders wanted the producers to hold back their fees as a condition of financing the project.
The suit states that Moritz and Jaffe had already warned Rocket Science that they were paying too much for talent.
“Although the deferral of producer fees occasionally takes place in connection with making independent motion pictures, it is highly unusual for requests to be made to a producer of Moritz’s stature to defer the entirety of the producer’s fee,” the lawsuit states. “The problem with the deferral of producer fees is not just that the producer gets paid later than he or she was supposed to be paid, but deferral may result in the producer never getting the full agreed-upon fee or possibly not even any portion of the fee.”
The suit, filed in L.A. Superior Court, alleges that the parties have not come to terms, and that Rocket Science has effectively repudiated its agreement with Moritz and Jaffe.
Row K Entertainment acquired U.S. distribution rights to the project in September in a reported eight-figure deal.