Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio raise objections to Weinstein Company's $280 million sale

A number of A-list Hollywood stars are raising objections to the sale of the now bankrupt Weinstein Co  fearing they will receive only a small percentage of their profit payments from Weinstein films, reports Variety. The Weinstein Company is hoping to win court approval for  sale to Lantern Capital before its bankruptcy financing expires. Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Rachel McAdams, Bill Murray and many others filed objections to the sale on Monday (9 July). The stars claim that they are owed profit participation payments from various films. Their attorneys have raised concerns about a deal last Friday between Weinstein Co, Lantern and the committee of unsecured creditors. A provision in the agreement gives Lantern another four months to determine which Weinstein Co contracts to assume. The remaining contracts will be relegated to the Weinstein Co and be treated as unsecured liabilities resulting in the stars receiving little to no money. [caption id=“attachment_4715351” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and Leonardo DiCaprio/Image from Twitter.[/caption] According to Variety, Weinstein Co and Lantern Capital have been arguing over who is responsible for such payments. In the aforementioned agreement, Lantern agreed to assume some of the payments for contracts that remain to be settled. Lantern agreed to pay at least $8.75 million in payments, but has yet to determine which contracts it will take. In exchange, the Weinstein Co cut the sale price from $310 million to $289 million. The above agreement will leave a number of Hollywood stars with unresolved contracts. Quentin Tarantino, for instance, claims he is owed $4.3 million in unpaid royalties and profit participations. Christopher Simon — an attorney representing Streep, Pitt, Clooney, Murray, McAdams and others — argues that Lantern is likely to leave Weinstein Co holding the bag, diluting the payout to the company’s many other creditors. “Lantern has not shown any willingness to pay, or even negotiate the claims of Counterparties, and instead appears to favor continuing litigation by the Debtors against the Counterparties at a substantial cost to the estates,” Variety quotes Simon.

Attorneys for Weinstein Co said they have engaged in negotiations with about 100 contract counterparties over the last few weeks. Some of the disputes have been settled.