Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban
Cinema Detroit in the Cass Corridor is among four Indie film houses suing Mark Cuban's Landmark Theatres, claiming the company denies them access to specialty films they want to exhibit and violates federal antitrust law, Dana Afana of MLive reports.
Cinema Detroit, The Denver Film Society and Washington D.C.'s West End Cinema and Avalon Theatre filed the federal lawsuit Wednesday in Washington, alleging Landmark uses its "market dominance to demand exclusive rights" to screen films,
Billionaire Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, and partner Todd Wagner co-own Landmark, own the nationwide theater chain that screens independent films.
"I wish that this legal action was avoidable," said Paula Guthat, co-founder of Cinema Detroit, in a news release, according to MLive "Unfortunately, Landmark actively engages in unfair business practices that limit our ability to screen certain types of films in the metro Detroit market. It's unfair to us as a business and to our patrons who look for Cinema Detroit to offer the best in independent films and documentaries."
In order to screen a film, movie theaters need to obtain a license from the film distributor. The four plaintiffs claim Landmark arranges agreements with distributors that prevent other theaters from screening films, MLive reports.
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Patrick Hipes of Deadline Hollywood reports:
The suit (read it here) claims Landmark’s business practice of “clearing” films is harming marketplace competition, and seeks a jury trial, monetary damages and an injunction prohibiting Landmark from continuing the practice. The defendants are Landmark (aka Silver Cinemas Acquisition Co.) and Cuban-owned 2929 Entertainment.
“Landmark’s dominance is demonstrated by its ability to define the terms of clearances, including which titles to clear, the duration of the clearances, and which theaters to clear,” the suit states. “In particular, Landmark has leveraged its national circuit power to bully distributors into clearing against each Plaintiff every Specialty Film Landmark wishes to clear, even though individual market conditions do not justify such clearances. Thus, distributors lose their ability to decide how widely to have a Specialty Film shown based on their economic interest and market conditions.”
