Rebel Moon, Zack Snyder‘s Star Wars-esque space saga hasn’t even landed on Netflix yet, and it’s already causing some problems. This man sure knows how to build up the suspense.
Evil Genius Games, a company that develops tabletop EPGs based on popular movies, is suing Netflix for allegedly claiming a confidentiality breach and terminating an agreement. In March, the company reached a licensing deal with Netflix to create a game off of Rebel Moon, Snyder’s sci-fi epic. With that agreement, the streamer would share the profits of the game on top of a $25,000 payment.
But Netflix failed to deliver crucial info for the game maker (like names of characters, which is pretty important for a game based on a movie), so they subsequently supplied “all the missing pieces and created a cohesive backstory.” After they presented it to Netflix, the streamer became “enamored” with the backstory and indicated they would use it in the film, which is aiming for a December release. The game was finished in May of this year. This is when things get tricky!
Netflix then accused the company of releasing unapproved movie content at a tradeshow and terminated their business agreement. A lawyer for the game maker explained: “Netflix then used this as a pretext to terminate the Agreement, assert ownership over Plaintiff’s intellectual property, halt the project, and prevent the game from being released (or potentially release it themselves to avoid sharing the profits with Plaintiff) Netflix’s accusations are baseless.” Netflix then allegedly sent a letter offering the company $50,000 to “basically go away,” which seems like their strategy for many other parts of the business as well. Here is the lawsuit:
Netflix cannot credibly claim that Plaintiff materially breached the Agreement’s confidentiality provisions since, among other things: (a) Mr. Snyder had already publicized the existence of the Rebel Moon TTRPG in his March 19, 2023 podcast appearance; (b) the very same artwork at issue had already been distributed by Netflix employees at GAMA on April 24-27, 2023 to over 100 retailers; (c) the artwork was little more than a pitch material recycled for GAMA, and (d) various Rebel Moon word marks and logos were already widely available on the internet (Netflix even instructed Evil Genius to use these materials rather than delivering official Licensed Property to Evil Genius per Schedule A of the Agreement).
So it seems like Evil Genius might be full of some real geniuses who are just trying to sell their fun game to teens. Let the people have fun!