Screenwriter Suing Tom Cruise For $1 Billion

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is Tom Cruise’s highest grossing film, grossing over $600 million worldwide. Now that film has caused Cruise to be hit with a huge copyright infringement lawsuit.

Screenwriter Timothy Patrick McLanahan claims he developed the original idea for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol back in 1998 and is now suing Cruise for $1 billion. McLanahan filed the lawsuit against Cruise, as well as Paramount Pictures and 10 other defendants, on December 20, 2013, in California.

“In 1998, I had written a screenplay called Head On,” the screenwriter states in the court documents. “After submitting it to the U.S. Copyright Office, Head On received a copyright certificate protecting its material and author from unauthorized use.”

McLanahan also added that he had sent his script to the William Morris Agency, where it was rejected but the company allegedly forwarded it on to Creative Artist Agency, where Cruise is represented.

The lawsuit hopes to recover damages from box office revenue and DVD sales, as well as movie rentals and subscription sales of Ghost Protocol, which equates to roughly $1 billion.

No official response from the 12 defendants has yet been made.