Paramount has emerged victorious from the court battle that unleashed Maverick’s return to movie screens. A judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by the widow of the Israeli journalist who wrote the article that inspired the 1986 film. Ehud Yonay’s family claimed that the studio had violated intellectual property rights in making the sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, which became a global hit in 2022, grossing more than $1.5 billion at the box office. The ruling states that many elements of the second part, including the plot, theme and dialogue, had nothing to do with Top Gun. One of the few coincidences is that both had the US Air Force pilot school as their center of gravity.
Judge Percy Anderson stated in his decision that many of the elements on which the Yonay family’s lawsuit was based were not covered by intellectual property rights. “The general ideas of the plot, archival scenes and some general themes and scenes, situations or incidents do not enjoy any protection,” says the 14-page ruling collected by The Hollywood Reporter, the publication specialized in the entertainment industry. Anderson issued his ruling on Friday, and it was reported by the press on Monday.
Marc Toberoff, the lawyer who has represented the Yonay family since 2022, has stated in a statement that he will appeal Anderson’s decision. Ehud’s estate sent a letter to Paramount in May of that year, weeks before the film’s release, warning that the release could violate copyright law because the rights to the story had returned to the family in January 2020. “The “The family has the right to claim damages (…) in the form of income, profits and benefits,” Toberoff said at the time. Paramount responded by ensuring that the film was not directly derived from the original, so it should not acquire the rights to the journalistic text again.
The judge’s decision now states that the pace and sequence of events in Top Gun: Maverick It has little to do with the original film, released 36 years earlier, and the original publication signed by Ehud Yonay. The report, for example, recounted the events that occurred at the Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego (California) in a non-linear way, jumping in time and focusing on two pilots, Yogi and Possum. Instead, the most recent installment, directed by filmmaker Joseph Kosinski, told a linear story that took place several years later and focused on a new crop of pilots at the North Island naval air station, also in San Diego.
The lawsuit file clears the way for the third installment of the pilot Pete Mitchell, better known as Maverick and played by Tom Cruise. The film is currently in pre-production at Paramount. The script is by Ehren Kruger, the same one who wrote the successful second part. Executives are in negotiations to get Kosinski back behind the camera. The specialized press does not rule out that the production of the film will be complicated if Paramount is acquired by SkyDance. The two entertainment giants are currently discussing the operation over the fate of one of Hollywood’s classic studios.
What is a fact is that Ehud Yonay’s name will not appear in the credits of the third film in the saga. Judge Anderson has buried that possibility in those days by stating that the journalist has no rights to the Maverick universe.