Warren Beatty sued over Dick Tracy…what?

I saw the headline that Warren Beatty was being sued over "Dick Tracy" and thought, what the…? That movie was eons ago, and it’s still causing legal issues? Well, yeah, and it has been since 2006. 

Here’s the scoop: Tribune Media Services has filed a lawsuit against Beatty to recover motion picture and television rights to the comic-strip character of Dick Tracy.

Tribune says Beatty wrongly claims to have exclusive motion picture and TV rights to the character. Beatty bought the rights in 1985 and went on to direct and act in the 1990 film by the same name.

All this is making me want to watch the movie again, which won three Oscars and included a star-studded cast of Dustin Hoffman, Madonna and Al Pacino. But I digress…

Tribune says that because Beatty has "made no productive use" of the rights for over a decade, they revert back to Tribune. The legal battle’s been brewing since 2006.

Gee, I wonder if the fact that Tribune is a unit of BANKRUPT newspaper publisher Tribune Co. has anything to do with it. I’m sure they’re scrambling to grab whatever millions they can. Then again, if the rights are theirs, they should have them. 

In November, Beatty filed a suit against Tribune, claiming he’d begun work on a Dick Tracy television special, which would preserve his rights to the character. Done specifically to retain rights to the character? Yeah, probably.

Photo: Newscom; Annette Bening and Warren Beatty at "Target Presents AFI Night at the Movies," held at ArcLight, Hollywood, CA, Oct. 1, 2008.