Keanu Reeves in 'John Wick.' Lionsgate Logo text A screenwriter has sued the production company and scribe behind John Wick for copyright infringement, accusing them of ripping off his script to make the hit revenge thriller.
In a lawsuit filed on Monday in California federal court, the writer, J.R. Wicker, alleges John Wick and its sequel bear “strikingly and substantially similar” elements to his screenplay “Blood for Escobar.” Both works follow a widowed, middle-aged ex-assassin who’s reluctantly dragged back into the criminal underworld and goes on an unstoppable killing spree while battling an international secret society of hit men.
Wicker seeks profits from the movies of at least $10 million. He names John Wick producer Thunder Road Films, scribe Derek Kolstad and distributor Lionsgate, which declined to comment, in the complaint.
The lawsuit points to several alleged similarities between “Blood for Escobar” and Kolstad’s “Scorn,” the spec script that became John Wick. Like the film, Wicker’s screenplay starts with the home invasion of the protagonist, Alex, in which his pet is killed. After, he recovers a hidden cache of weapons in his house, setting up a pulsating action sequence at a night club where he confronts the antagonist.
Both works also feature a network of assassins operated by a ritualistic and bureaucratic organization. An important distinction: In “Blood for Escobar,” the organization, called the Company, arranges the Kevorkian killings of clients who want their families to receive life insurance payouts.
Kolstad “intentionally, blatantly, and without authorization, copied” Wicker’s screenplay, write R. Terry Parker and Steven Lowe, lawyers for the scribe, in the complaint.
Other similarities: a treasured, silver-screen era Ford Mustang; a supporting character who’s commissioned to kill the protagonist but later helps him; and the organization of assassins turning on the central character, who’s exiled after refusing to follow orders.
“In both works, the antagonist gets away and is finished by a bullet later at a different location, a location where guards are down, a public location, at night, drinking,” the lawsuit states.
In the complaint, Wicker alleges that Kolstad reviewed a copy of his screenplay through Abstract Entertainment founder Mike Goldberg, who was a judge in a screenwriting contest in which “Blood for Escobar” was submitted. Kolstad has credited Goldberg for launching his career, according to the lawsuit.
Wicker, writer for low-budget films Sick People and The Sick, also claims that Kolstad may have gotten a copy of his screenplay through UTA agent Charlie Ferraro, architect of the deal that launched the John Wick franchise. He alleges he sent the agency requested copies of his scripts, including “Blood for Escobar.”
The filing of the lawsuit comes amid a shift in the vetting of copyright lawsuits that’s encouraged creators to sue. In recent years, federal appeals courts have cautioned lower courts against early dismissal and from imposing their views on whether two works are similar enough to warrant allowing lawsuits to proceed. There have been at least three orders since 2020 overturning defense-friendly decisions in copyright cases.
Still, the standard to convince a jury that any alleged similarities between two works constitute copyright infringement remain high. Copyright law doesn’t protect general ideas or tropes considered standard in the treatment of particular topics (think a priest in a movie about possession) — only the particular expression of those ideas. Last year, juries in idea theft cases over M. Night Shyamalan’s Servant and Moana rejected copyright infringement claims.
Another obstacle could be the statute of limitations to bring copyright infringement claims, though Wicker says he only saw John Wick last year.
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