The writer of the originalRoad Houseis gearing up for his own brawl, but his fight is likely to take place in court after he filed suit against MGM Studios and Amazon Studios for copyright infringement regarding their upcoming reboot of the film. PerVariety, R. Lance Hill, the screenwriter of the 1989 original film, has sued MGM and its parent company Amazon Studios, under his pen name David Lee Henry, for using artifical intelligence to replicate voices for ADR during the SAG strike.
This was allegedly done to have the film completed before a deadline that was dated for 10 November, 2023. In the filing, Hill claims that Amazon ignored his ability to reclaim the rights to his screenplay, which was originally written in 1986, as they prepared for their remake starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
The lawsuit indicates that Hill filed a petition with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2021 to have the copyright returned to him after United Artists' claim was expected to expire in November 2023. Per the lawsuit, Hill alleges that Amazon ignored his claims and continued working on the film, particularly during the ADR phase that possibly took place during the SAG strike. The suit goes on to claim that the film wasn’t completed until January, which would’ve been months after the copyright deadline.
“On Jul 28, 2025, the Screenplay’s copyright thereby duly reverted to Hill under the Copyright Act. Yet, in contravention of the Act’s fundamental authorial termination right, Defendants refused to acknowledge Hill’s statutory termination. Instead, Defendants steamrolled ahead with the production of a remake of the 1989 Film derived from Hill’s Screenplay.”
The Original Screenwriter Is Hoping to Block the Release of the Remake
Road House
The WGA gave Hill a “story by” notice on the remake and a credit that reads, “Based on the motion picture ‘Road House,’ Screenplay by David Leee Henry, and Hilary Henkin, Story by David Lee Henry.” Despite this, in addition to declaratory relief, the suit is also aiming to block distribution of the film, which is set to hit Prime Video on March 21. An Amazon MGM Studios spokesperson refuted the claims made in the lawsuit by releasing the following statement:
“The lawsuit filed by R. Lance Hill regarding ‘Road House’ today is completely without merit and numerous allegations are categorically false. The film does not use any AI in place of actors' voices. We look forward to defending ourselves against these claims.”
TheRoad Housereboot has garnered more controversy than is normal for a film of this nature. AI claims were reportedly brought up when producer Joel Silver raised concerns it was being used to complete the film. Silver was subsequently fired from the productiondue to allegations of verbal abuse, with Amazon denying the AI claims.
Road House Remake Team Reportedly Turned Down Theatrical Release Offer from Amazon
Road House is set to be released exclusively on Prime Video despite director Doug Liman choosing to boycott the film’s premiere.
The film also saw its share of drama when director Doug Liman wrote an op-ed declaring he would beboycotting the movie’s SXSW premieredue to Amazon’s decision to release the reboot exclusively via streaming rather than giving it a theatrical debut. Gyllenhaal recently spoke out regarding the release issue and while he respects Liman’s tenacity for filmmakers' rights, he made it clear that Amazon was up front that the filmwould be a streaming only release.
