Batfilm Productions, Inc. v. Warner Bros. Inc.
Superior Court of California
Consolidated Cases No. BC 051653 and No. BC 051654, 1994 Cal. Appl. LEXIS 1333 (1994)
Melniker and Uslan, through their companies Batfilm Productions and Franklin Enterprises (plaintiffs), owned the movie rights to Batman and contracted with Polygram Pictures, later assigned to Warner Bros. (defendant), to develop and produce a Batman film in exchange for 13 percent of the contractually defined 'net profits.' That definition subtracted various overhead costs, foreign tax credits, sound stage holdover charges, only 20 percent of videocassette revenue, and interest charges on production costs. Despite the film earning millions for Warner Bros. and others, the plaintiffs received little net-profits compensation and sued, claiming the net-profits definition was unconscionable.
Whether, to be void for unconscionability, a contract must shock the conscience.