20th Century Fox has launched a counterclaim case against Genting over the failed Fox World theme park just outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Originally scheduled to open in 2016, the park’s development was expected to cost US$300m (€264.4m, £229m) and feature Fox IPs such as
Planet of the Apes,
Independence Day,
Ice Age,
Alien and
Predator, which would be used in the park to be located at Resorts World Genting Casino Resort near the Malaysian capital.
That original opening was then pushed back to a Q3 2018 soft launch, which also never went ahead.
The subsequent legal dispute centres on a 2013 licencing agreement that handed Genting the rights to the abovementioned IPs.
Genting launched a claim against Fox and Disney – another interested party – late last year that said the former, along with latter's help, had breached the original 2013 contract to license the IPs.
Genting went on to say in the suit that Fox issued a notice of default with the hope of terminating the agreement, which it said was "entirely consistent with Disney wanting to kill the deal" to benefit itself.
"Given that Fox had no right to terminate the agreement, Fox and Disney are liable for what will exceed a billion dollars in damages attributable to the bad-faith behaviour of both Fox and Disney," said Genting’s complaint.
After Genting’s original filing against the media giant, a spokesperson for Fox called the suit "entirely without merit" and now Fox is launching the countersue claim arguing that it had, in fact, been Genting’s fault that the park’s development failed.
"Genting’s failure to 'soft open' the park by June 2018 gave Fox the right to terminate the agreement without regard to whether Genting was at fault," says Fox’s 35-page suit.
"The fault for these failures lies with Genting and Genting alone. Genting’s failure to adhere to its obligations and deliver on the agreed-upon schedule resulted from a mixture of Genting’s incompetence, inexperience and rank indifference to its contractual obligations."
Fox is seeking monetary damages including at least US$9m (€7.9m, £6.9m) in license fees, US$37m (€32.6m, £28.3m) in guarantee amounts/royalties and US$196m (€172.7m, £149.7m) in travel reimbursements – "entitled to under the terms of the original Memorandum of Agreement, plus interest, as well as consequential damages."
Meanwhile, Genting said – at the time of its filing – that it had invested more than US$750m (€662m, £587.8m) in the project.
Plans for the 101,000sq m (1,087,155sq ft) park in Malaysia had included 25 movie-inspired thrill rides, dark rides, children’s rides, a water ride, shops and themed outlets.
Further Fox theme parks were also mooted for both South Korea and Dubai, with talks also held to develop a park in China.
