‘ER’ creator Michael Crichton’s estate sues Warner Bros. over upcoming hospital drama ‘The Pitt’

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The property of Michael Crichton, who wrote the screenplay for what turned the pilot episode of “ER,” has sued Warner Bros. Tv over a dispute about an upcoming medical drama it says is a rebranded model of an unauthorized reboot.

After Crichton’s property, led by his widow, Sherri, couldn’t attain an settlement with the tv studio to provide a reboot of the famed medial procedural, the lawsuit alleges Warner Bros. proceeded to develop and produce a sequence based mostly on the identical premise with out consent.

The upcoming sequence, titled “The Pitt,” might be a medical drama set in Pittsburgh, versus “ER’s” Chicago setting, and can characteristic Noah Wyle in a starring function. Wyle is greatest recognized for enjoying John Carter on “ER” in over 250 episodes.

“The Pitt” can also be set to incorporate a number of “ER” alums behind-the-scenes, together with John Wells as the chief producer and R. Scott Gemmill because the showrunner. Wyle, Wells and Gemmill are every named defendants within the swimsuit.

“The lawsuit filed by the Crichton Property is baseless, as ‘The Pitt’ is a brand new and authentic present. Any suggestion in any other case is fake, and Warner Bros. Tv intends to vigorously defend in opposition to these meritless claims,” the studio stated in an announcement.

Due to Crichton’s success with tasks together with “Jurassic Park” and “Westworld” earlier than “ER” was developed, he secured a coveted “frozen rights” provision in his contract for the sequence. The availability prohibits Warner Bros. from continuing with any sequels, remakes, spinoffs or different productions derived from “ER” with out Crichton’s consent, or his property’s consent after his demise from most cancers in 2008.

“If Warner Bros. can do that to Michael Crichton, one of many trade’s most profitable and prolific creators who made the studio billions over the course of their partnership, no creator is protected,” a spokesperson for Sherri Crichton stated in an announcement to The Related Press. “Whereas litigation isn’t the popular plan of action, contracts have to be enforced, and Michael Crichton’s legacy have to be protected.”

The property, which filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Courtroom, is asking the choose to subject an injunction that may power the studio to cease manufacturing on the brand new sequence, and they’re additionally searching for punitive and compensatory damages.

Warner Bros. started growing a reboot of “ER” for HBO’s streaming service, Max, in 2020 with out Sherri’s information, in response to the lawsuit.

In 2022, when Sherri Crichton was knowledgeable of the growing venture, she and the property engaged in negotiations with the studio, by means of which she says she was promised that Crichton would get a “created by” credit score, backed by a $5 million assure for the property within the occasion the credit score was not given. In the end, the time period was revoked and negotiations stopped, which the lawsuit states ought to have ceased all improvement of the sequence.

Growth continued on, and “The Pitt” was introduced in March. A launch date has but to be introduced.

“The Pitt is ER. It’s not like ER, it’s not sort of ER, it’s not form of ER. It’s ER full with the identical government producer, author, star, manufacturing firms, studio, and community because the deliberate ER reboot,” legal professionals representing Crichton’s property wrote within the lawsuit.

The lawsuit additionally alleges that Warner Bros. had beforehand tried to “erase” Crichton from derivatives for his work by downgrading his credit score within the 2016 sequence based mostly off his film, “Westworld,” from “created by” to “based mostly on,” which they are saying began “a disturbing sample.”