It's no illusion — less than four years after the magician-themed Ed Norton "The Illusionist" grossed nearly $40 million at the domestic box office, Sony Classics and Pathé plan to distribute an animated French feature in the U.S. with a different storyline but the same name.
And on Tuesday, The Illusionst LLC, the sales agent behind the former Warner-distributed live-action film, filed suit against Sony Classics and Pathé, alleging copyright infringement.
The plaintiff is asking the court for an injunction of Sony Classics' planned Christmas Day release of the new animated film.
The 2006 film was based on "Eisenheim the Illusionist," written by Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Steven Millhauser; the animated film has an original screenplay by Jacques Tati. Both focus on stage performers who fall in love with European women.
"The motion picture 'The Illusionist' has acquired a secondary and distinctive meaning among the American public and the defendants' distribution and release of the infringing picture in the United States under the title 'The Illusionist' would infringe plaintiff's exclusive trademark," contends the suit, which was filed in a Los Angeles federal court.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this article.
