New Regency has sued filmmaker Michael Mann in a Los Angeles federal court to stop him from reclaiming the copyright to the screenplay for the 1995 crime drama ‘Heat’. The complaint, filed on a Friday, asks a judge to declare three termination notices Mann served on the company “null and void.” The studio argues that the screenplay is not eligible for copyright termination under 17 U.S.C. § 203 and that it retains all rights to the work.

New Regency’s central argument is that Mann wrote ‘Heat’ as a “work made for hire,” a fact it says Mann repeatedly stated in written agreements he personally signed, both for himself and for companies he controlled. The filing states that, as a work made for hire, the screenplay is not subject to termination under Section 203(a) of the Copyright Act.S1S2

A spokesperson for Mann said the filing concerns original writing he produced on multiple screenplays during the 1980s, which evolved into the 1995 film that Mann wrote, produced and directed. The spokesperson said Mann is exercising the right of authors to reclaim their work after 40 years, and that the team will vigorously defend the action and is confident the courts will uphold his statutory rights under the Copyright Act.S1

The spokesperson said the dispute is unrelated to production of ‘Heat 2’, which is set to begin shooting on January 19. Mann is expected to return to write and direct the sequel, which originated as a novel he wrote with Meg Gardiner and was released in 2022. The sequel serves as both a prequel and a sequel, taking place before and after the events of the original film, which starred Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.S1