{"id":66217,"date":"2013-07-21T12:17:43","date_gmt":"2013-07-21T12:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/0de2709a84.nxcli.net\/0-kjasnb\/2013\/07\/21\/the-butler-will-now-be-called-lee-daniels-the-butler\/"},"modified":"2018-12-18T09:13:19","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T09:13:19","slug":"the-butler-will-now-be-called-lee-daniels-the-butler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/the-butler-will-now-be-called-lee-daniels-the-butler\/","title":{"rendered":"The Butler will now be called ‘Lee Daniels\u2019 The Butler’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Butler will now be called ‘Lee Daniels\u2019 The Butler’<\/a><\/strong>Posted by Wilson Morales<\/p>\n

July 21, 2013<\/p>\n

Source: Variety<\/a><\/p>\n

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In a mixed ruling, The Weinstein Co. will be allowed to use some form of \u201cThe Butler\u201d <\/a>in the title of the Lee Daniels movie \u2014 but will have to change its marketing materials and pay $400,000 in fines for violating the July 2 ruling by the MPAA.<\/p>\n

Despite the requirement of a title change and the fines, TWC was quick to declare victory from the MPAA\u2019s ruling on its appeal, asserting that the July 2 ruling by the MPAA\u2019s Title Registration Bureau had been overturned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are now \u2018Lee Daniels\u2019 The Butler\u2019 \u2013 we are thrilled,\u201d said TWC spokeswoman Dani Weinstein.<\/p>\n

But Friday\u2019s appeals ruling, which found that TWC had been in \u201cwillful violation\u201d of the MPAA rules, forces TWC to quickly alter its publicity campaign for the film \u2014 and face further stiffer penalties if it fails to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cTWC mas made continuous use of the unregistered title \u2018The Butler\u2019 in willfull violation of the TRB rules,\u201d the ruling said. \u201cTWC is permanently prohibited from any use of the title \u2018The Butler.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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Although TWC is allowed to use \u201cThe Butler\u201d as part of the title, that usage comes with the condition that all words in the title have to be of the same size, unless TWC chooses to the use \u201cLee Daniels\u2019 The Butler,\u201d in which case the \u201cLee Daniels\u201d part of title has to be 75% the size of \u201cThe Butler.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Butler\u201d is centered on African-American butler Eugene Allen, who worked in the White House during eight presidencies throughout the civil rights era. TWC plans to release the film, starring Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey, on Aug. 16.<\/p>\n

TWC will have pay a fine of $25,000 a day, dating back to July 2, or $400,000 for violating the initial ruling, and face stiffer penalties if it refuses to change its marketing campaign. The fine will increase to $50,000 a day if the studio fails to issue new digital materials (trailers, TV ads) by July 26 and new print materials by Aug. 2.<\/p>\n

TWC will also have to pay $100,000 to the Entertainment Industry Foundation and up to $150,000 to cover Warner Bros.\u2019 legal fees.<\/p>\n

Warner Bros. had no comment on the ruling, issued Friday evening.<\/p>\n

TWC had registered \u201cLee Daniels\u2019 \u2018The Butler\u2019\u201d as a title in June with the MPAA.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s hearing before the MPAA\u2019s Title Registration Bureau took place two and a half weeks after Warner Bros. won an arbitration over the title.<\/p>\n

That July 2 ruling found that TWC violated WB\u2019s title rights to \u201cThe Butler\u201d due to the latter\u2019s ownership of rights to a 1916 comedy by the same name \u2014 requiring TWC to remove the word \u201cButler\u201d from its marketing, promotional and other material related to the film, or face fines of $25,000 a day for failure to do so.<\/p>\n

Daniels made a personal appeal to Warner Bros. to keep the film\u2019s title and TWC brushed off the July 2 ruling, hired high-powered attorney David Boies to handle an appeal and issued several announcements to publicize its side of the story and the film. During Friday\u2019s hearing, it issued a press release announcing the endorsements of Rev. Jesse Jackson, NAACP president Ben Jealous and Roy Innis, national chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all watching and waiting for the results of today\u2019s arbitration and hoping that Warner Bros. and the MPAA make the right decision on this important movie about civil rights,\u201d the trio said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The MPAA\u2019s Title Registration Bureau has long been used by the industry to regulate use of titles. Warner Bros. has accused TWC of operating in the TRB process \u201cwith breathtaking hypocrisy\u201d to extract concessions from other subscriber companies in order to advance TWC\u2019s own interests.<\/p>\n

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