Warner Bros’ The Pitt has made headlines even before its official release. Michael Crichton's widow Sherri Crichton has filed a lawsuit against the production company alleging that The Pitt is an unauthorized rebranded version of a reboot of ER. Chrichton was associated with projects like ER, Westworld, Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, and Twister.
Besides Warner Bros, the lawsuit also named John Wells, R. Scott Gemmill, Noah Wyle, and others, who are charged with breach of the implied covenant of fair dealing and good faith, contract breach, and intentional interference with contracts.
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Let us now explore what the lawsuit says about The Pitt and how Warner Bros. has responded.
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What does the lawsuit against The Pitt say?
As per the lawsuit, extensive discussions were held regarding reviving the series led by George Clooney (ER). However, what emerged instead was a similar concept in the form of The Pitt, which did not give Michael Crichton any credit as a creator.
According to Deadline, the lawsuit says:
"The Pitt is ER. It's not like ER, it's not kind of ER, it's not sort of ER.
The Express further reported:
"It is ER complete with the same executive producer, writer, star, production companies, studio and network as the planned ER reboot."
The suit mentioned that when year-long negotiations about making a new version of the hit series ER led to nothing, Wells, WBTV, Gemmill, and Wyle simply took the core concept and placed it in an urban Pittsburgh hospital, and named it The Pitt.
The suit further charged that it was illegal and audacious on the part of Warner Bros., Wyle, Wells, and Gemmill to engage in a negotiation with Michael Crichton’s estate regarding a potential ER sequel and to move on to create a similar show when the negotiations did not bear any results.
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How did Warner Bros. respond to the lawsuit against The Pitt?
Warner Bros called the lawsuit "baseless" to begin with and argued that The Pitt is very different from ER. As reported by Variety, the studio mentioned in a statement:
“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 response from Warner Bros. came after John Wells, executive producer of The Pitt, was accused of "betrayal." Wells and The Pitt’s lead Noah Wyle apparently came up with the idea of the new show when they could not get permission to reboot ER.
It has also been reported that the basic similarity is that both shows are about overworked doctors and their chaotic professional and personal lives. On the other hand, the studio maintains that The Pitt has reportedly been planned very differently from ER, both thematically and in terms of tonality.
The Pitt is set for release on the Warner Bros Discovery streamer, Max.
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