Richard Williams, the father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, has been sued by TW3 Entertainment and Power Move Multimedia.
The suit involves the Will Smith-produced biopic King Richard, based on Williams’ book. The companies claim they bought the rights to his life story before Smith produced his own movie (in which he stars as Richard Williams).
Along with Williams, Warner Bros. Entertainment and Smith’s production company Overbrook Entertainment are also being sued.
According to the lawsuit (obtained by TMZ), TW3 and Power Move Multimedia claim they bought the rights to Williams’ book Black and White: The Way I See It and life story back in 2017 when an agreement was reached barring anyone else from working on a screen adaptation.
The production companies assert that they own the rights to Williams’ story and want an injunction requiring Warner Bros. to put all the profits from the King Richard film (set for release this November) into a trust for their benefit.
The suit reveals that Williams sold his rights to Warner Bros. for at least $1 million, something that Power Move Multimedia and TW3 say would make their contract worthless.
TMZ reached out to Williams’ representatives but so far haven’t gotten any response from them.
