Amazon Reneged on Woody Allen Film Deal Over '92 Sex-Abuse Allegations, He Alleges

Amazon “discarded” director Woody Allen and his Gravier Productions, reneging on a multimillion-dollar deal to produce and distribute four Allen films after allegations resurfaced at the start of the #MeToo movement that he sexually abused adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow in 1992. So complained (in Pacer) Allen and Gravier Thursday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Allen denies the sexual-abuse allegations and said Amazon hired him to “develop its nascent entertainment studio,” promising him “minimum guaranteed payments” of $68 million-$73 million, plus a box office cut and other perks. Allen wrapped the first film, A Rainy Day in New York, in 2017 and delivered it for theatrical release this year, but the movie remains shelved indefinitely, it said. After Amazon Studios and Amazon Content Services used Allen to “promote and build Amazon Studios’ standing as a full-fledged film studio," they unilaterally terminated the contract without legal grounds and “refused to honor their commitments,” it said. Amazon didn’t comment.