‘Gravity’ author Tess Gerritsen sues Warner Bros

LOS ANGELES, May 1:  Author Tess Gerritsen has sued Warner Bros for USD 10 million, claiming the studio based the story from their blockbuster ‘Gravity’ from her novel of the same name and never gave her credit for it.
Gerritsen, whose crime novels inspired TNT’s hit ‘Rizzoli & Isles’, sold the film rights to her book for USD 1 million to New Line Productions, a subsidiary of the studio in 1999, reported Deadline.
She has now sued the company for reneging on a contract after they failed to release a “based upon” credit in the 2013 movie ‘Gravity’, which starred George Clooney and Sandra Bullock.
According to a complaint Gerritsen filed in Los Angeles, Gerritsen was entitled to a USD 500,000 bonus and 2.5 per cent of the net proceeds of a movie based on her book if such a film was made.
Gerritsen also stated that she wrote additional material for the film, including the scene about a “surviving female medical doctor/astronaut left drifting in her spacesuit, alone and untethered, seeking the means to return to Earth.”
To date, the film has made more than USD 716 million. Gerritsen’s hoping for a jury trial to settle the matter. (PTI)