Gerard Butler sues Olympus Has Fallen producers over profits dispute

Gerard Butler has taken legal action against the production companies involved in his 2013 movie Olympus Has Fallen. Photo / Getty Images

Gerard Butler has filed a lawsuit against the producers of the film Olympus Has Fallen.

The 51-year-old actor has taken legal action against production companies Nu Image, Millennium Film and Padre Nuestro Productions in a dispute over profits for the 2013 action film, in which he played the role of Secret Service agent Mike Banning.

Butler and his legal team filed the claim in Los Angeles Superior Court and claims that he is owed more than US$10 million ($14.3m) in profits after an independent audit found that the defendants "understated their own receipts and profits by over US$11m ($15.7m), including by failing to report approximately US$8m ($11.48m) in payments to producers' own senior executives."

The lawsuit alleges that the 300 actor is yet to see a penny of the profits and cites fraud, breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and intentional interference with contractual relations and accounting.

It reads: "Producers have earned tens of millions of dollars from Olympus, but refuse to pay Butler a penny of the profits promised to him in the parties' agreement.

"Producers embarked on a scheme designed to grossly misrepresent the finances of the film to Butler, so that Butler would believe that no such payments were due."

The lawsuit added: "It appears that the producers' modus operandi is to hide the profits from Olympus in order to keep those profits for themselves."

Butler is the latest movie star to get involved in a legal dispute over a film, after Scarlett Johansson sued Disney for releasing the superhero movie Black Widow on streaming service Disney+ as she claims it violates a clause in her contract regarding her salary.

In documents filed by Johansson and her legal team, the star said her contract with Disney stated the movie would be exclusively released in cinemas, and so releasing it on Disney+ at the same time broke that deal.