Defendant says there's 'no merit' to Gerard Butler's lawsuit against 'Olympus Has Fallen' producers

Amid Hollywood actor Gerard Butler's ongoing lawsuit against 'Olympus Has Fallen' producers, alleging he is owed profits over the 2013 action film, one of the defendants, Nu Image, has now responded to last week's allegation action.

According to Deadline, a spokesperson from Nu Image, on Wednesday said, "There is no merit to Mr Butler's claim. Nu Image has been open and transparent with Mr Butler and his representatives about the revenue of 'Olympus Has Fallen' which was released in 2013. Nu Image provided participation statements to Mr Butler and those statements were audited by Mr Butler's auditors in 2015 and 2016."

The spokesperson further stated that "the statements fully comply with the terms of Mr Butler's agreement, resulting in no overages being due," adding, "After over 8 years of our cooperation with Mr Butler and his representatives on this matter, we are very disappointed that Mr Butler has now decided to act in this manner."

In the lawsuit, Butler and his legal team claimed that he is owed more than USD 10 million in profits, which came to light after an independent audit, that found the defendants "understated their own receipts and profits by over USD 11 million, including by failing to report approximately USD 8 million in payments to Producers' own senior executives."

The suit was filed by Butler on July 30 in Los Angeles Superior Court citing fraud, breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, intentional interference with contractual relations and accounting. He sued the film's producers including Nu Image, Millennium Film and Padre Nuestro Productions, in the profits dispute case.

As per Deadline, the movie grossed USD 170.3 million at the global box office. In the lawsuit filed by Greenberg Glusker on behalf of Comrie Inc., Butler and his G-Base Entertainment claimed that the actor has received zero of that total amount from the film's producers and defendants.

The Antoine Fuqua directorial film 'Olympus Has Fallen' centred on disgraced Secret Service agent Mike Bannon (Butler), who becomes trapped inside the White House after a terrorist attack and works to rescue the president from kidnappers.

Meanwhile, the actor, since his first film has reprised his Mike Bannon role in 2016's 'London Has Fallen' and 2019's 'Angel Has Fallen for Lionsgate'. The next film in the franchise 'Night Has Fallen' is currently under development.

( With inputs from ANI )