‘ER’ creator Michael Crichton’s estate sues Warner Bros. over upcoming hospital drama ‘The Pitt’
The estate of Michael Crichton is suing Warner Bros
LOS ANGELES — The estate of Michael Crichton, who wrote the screenplay for what became the pilot episode of “ER,” has sued Warner Bros. Television over a dispute about an upcoming medical drama it says is a rebranded version of an unauthorized reboot.
After Crichton’s estate, led by his widow, Sherri, could not reach an agreement with the television studio to produce a reboot of the famed medical procedural, the lawsuit alleges Warner Bros. proceeded to develop and produce a series based on the same premise without consent.
The upcoming series, titled “The Pitt,” will be a medical drama set in Pittsburgh, as opposed to “ER’s” Chicago setting, and will feature Noah Wyle in a starring role. Wyle is best known for playing John Carter on “ER” in over 250 episodes.
“The Pitt” is also set to include several “ER” alums behind-the-scenes, including John Wells as the executive producer and R. Scott Gemmill as the showrunner. Wyle, Wells and Gemmill are each named defendants in the suit.
“The lawsuit filed by the Crichton Estate is baseless, as ‘The Pitt’ is a new and original show. Any suggestion otherwise is false, and Warner Bros. Television intends to vigorously defend against these meritless claims," the studio said in a statement.
Because of Crichton’s success with projects including “Jurassic Park” and “Westworld” before “ER” was developed, he secured a coveted “frozen rights” provision in his contract for the series. The provision prohibits Warner Bros. from proceeding with any sequels, remakes, spinoffs or other productions derived from “ER” without Crichton’s consent, or his estate’s consent after his death from cancer in 2008.
“If Warner Bros. can do this to
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