A few days ago came word that Legendary Entertainment, George Clooney and Grant Heslov were teaming on a planned TV series reboot of the sci-fi property “Buck Rogers”. That version boasts a script by Brian K. Vaughn and has Don Murphy and Susan Montford producing.
The Nowlan Family Trust, who oversees the estate of author Philip Francis Nowlan and his creation “Buck Rogers,” have now shaken things up and fired off a cease-and-desist letter to Legendary Entertainment says Heat Vision.
The letter indicates the trust has signed an agreement with David Ellison’s Skydance Productions company for them to produce content from the ‘Buck Rogers Interests’ and Legendary moving forward with their project would constitute “slander of the title of the rights”.
The rights to “Buck Rogers” are complicated. The character of Anthony Rogers first appeared in the 1929 novella “Armageddon 2419 A.D” and is in the public domain so anyone is free to adapt that story.
The Nowlans claim to hold rights to later comic book stories – where the character soon became known as “Buck Rogers” – as well as trademarks. Those rights are what the Skydance deal was about, and the Nowlan’s attorney tells the trade: “Buck is not in Armageddon, Anthony is a different character.”
A spokesperson for Legendary has responded, telling the trade that: “We have secured the rights we need to proceed with our project and the company will not comment any further on these baseless claims. This same party has been claiming for years that they have rights which they do not have and have been trying to inhibit projects based on rights they do not legally control.”
The Skydance project apparently has no talent attached at this time. Needless to say, there’s going to be more going on this story in the weeks and/or months ahead.