Is Los Angeles big enough for two alien invasion movies? Sony doesn’t think so, and may be considering legal action to ensure that November’s Skyline doesn’t steal the thunder of its own March release, Battle: Los Angeles.
The conflict comes from more than just the similarity between the movies, both of which feature aliens invading LA; a portion of effects work on Battle: Los Angeles was done by visual effects company Hydraulx, which is owned by Skyline‘s directors, Greg and Colin Strause. Considering that Hydraulx had early access to scripts, storyboards and design work on Battle: Los Angeles, it’s almost understandable that Sony’s legal team are feeling a little curious about the timing of the much-smaller-scale, Cloverfield-esque Skyline – but is that enough to base a lawsuit on? Deadline Hollywood is suggesting yes, and hypothesizing that Sony may try and force a later release date for Skyline, but the Strauses have already released a statement denying any potential plagarism:
Any claims of impropriety are completely baseless. This is a blatant attempt by Sony to force these independent filmmakers to move a release date that has long been set by [distributors] Universal and Relativity and is outside the filmmakers’ control.
Expect Sony’s response soon.
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