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A screenwriter has sued the production company and scribe behind John Wick for copyright infringement, accusing them of ripping off his script to make the hit revenge thriller.
In a lawsuit filed on Monday in California federal court, the writer, J.R. Wicker, alleges John Wick and its sequel bear “strikingly and substantially similar” elements to his screenplay “Blood for Escobar.” Both works follow a widowed, middle-aged ex-assassin who’s reluctantly dragged back into the criminal underworld and goes on an unstoppable killing spree while battling an international secret society of hit men.
Wicker seeks profits from the movies of at least $10 million. He names John Wick producer Thunder Road Films, scribe Derek Kolstad and distributor Lionsgate, which declined to comment, in the complaint.
The lawsuit points to several alleged similarities between “Blood for Escobar” and Kolstad’s “Scorn,” the spec script that became John Wick. Like the film, Wicker’s screenplay starts with the home invasion of the protagonist, Alex, in which his pet is killed. After, he recovers a hidden cache of weapons in his house, setting up a pulsating action sequence at a night club where he confronts the antagonist.
