Sony lawyers hover over Skyline

Sony has got the hump. It's been pumping cash into its forthcoming militaristic alien invasion blockbuster, Battle: Los Angeles, only to have come to the realisation that the thunder of said project is in real danger of being stolen by the similarly themed but smaller-scale Skyline. Sony has therefore summoned the lawyers and the least intent seems to be to get their rival's release date shunted.

On very cursory inspection Sony's fit of pique would seem to offer a rib-tickling (to the casual observer, at least) lesson in the perils of staking the company silver on terminally unimaginative fare. The recently-released trailer for Skyline was hardly distinctive, with it offering precisely diddly squat that any of the millions who saw either of Independence Day or District 9 hadn't seen previously, meaning that if it truly was aping Battle: Los Angeles then that more expensive movie was unlikely to strike many stunning blows in the name of originality.

In fact when details of Skyline were first announced, with its plot focusing on how the extraterrestrial invasion affects the residents of a single apartment building, it itself seemed to be treading rather close to the toes of Joe Cornish's Attack the Block. So that someone aside from Sony had the wizard idea of making a movie in which giant, sun-blotting spaceships menace humanity could hardly be taken as evidence of plagiarism of the first rank.

However Sony's beef with Skyline is actually a little more specific, as Deadline Hollywood's report on the subject makes clear. You see, when Sony Pictures Entertainment was hiring special effects teams for Battle: Los Angeles back in early 2009, one of the outfits selected was Hydraulx, the award-winning company run by filmmaking brothers Greg and Colin Strause, who are best-known for directing Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem.

Oh, and they also happen to be the makers of Skyline. Something which apparently apparently went entirely unmentioned either when Hydraulx was carrying out its work on Battle: Los Angeles, making use (according to Deadline) of 'proprietary information that included script drafts, storyboards and pre-viz animatics', or when the Strause brothers were in the running to direct Sony's movie themselves – a gig that eventually went to Jonathan Liebesman, the brains (or not) behind The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.

The trigger for the looming legal proceedings was that wellspring of woe known as Comic-Con 2010 (pen stabbings, too-large men squeezing into too-small superhero costumes), where Battle: Los Angeles and Skyline both had panels. With the trailer for the latter having made its debut on the Friday of that event, Sony finally twigged that this younger, cheaper upstart bore some similarities to its baby, and that Skyline's scheduled US release date of 12 November (compared to 11 March 2011 for Battle) spelt trouble for a production it had sunk significant capital into.

Sony is supposedly exploring a range of legal options - from whether the Strauses gained specific know-how from Hydraulx's engagement on Battle: Los Angeles which assisted them in the making of Skyline, to whether the brothers should have 'fessed up about any brewing plans for their own movie when they took the VFX job on a rival flick. For their part, the Strause brothers have issued a statement via a representative, denying all accusations of skulduggery: 'Any claims of impropriety are completely baseless. This is a blatant attempt by Sony to force these independent filmmakers to move a release date that has long been set by Universal and Relativity and is outside the filmmakers' control.'

Which is interesting stuff, with a couple key points seemingly raised by the Strauses' response. Before we get onto that though, let's just quickly fill in a bit of background about Skyline: the project was self-financed by the siblings, and was allegedly inspired by Paranormal Activity, insomuch as the Strauses were prompted to put together their own movie, rather than hanging out for the next studio gig. Once Skyline was completed, they contacted Rush Hour and X-Men: The Last Stand director Brett Ratner, who brought the film to the attention of Ryan Kauvanaugh's Relativity Media, who in turn signed for the rights at Cannes in May, before a distribution deal was subsequently inked with Universal.

Now the first aspect of note in the response statement from the Strauses is their counter-accusation aimed at Sony Pictures; that this legal hoopla is merely a bid to waylay Skyline's route to the multiplexes. And there is surely some truth in this. If Skyline was scheduled to open five months after Battle: Los Angeles, as opposed to five months before, then there can be no doubt that Sony wouldn't have given two hoots about it and its lawyers would still be sat round their fashionably-decorated office making paper clip pyramids, rubber band globes, and discussing which pneumatic blonde at their gym they would most like to sleep with. Yes, the idea that Sony can completely halt the release of a movie which has the combined clout of Universal and Relativity behind it is fanciful at best – however it may be willing to take the gamble that a fired-off lawsuit can delay that release significantly.

The other really noteworthy point is the statement's referral to the Strause brothers as 'independent filmmakers'. If we take this literally, then you have to concede – at least as far as Skyline is concerned – it is true. After all, they coughed up their own money to make the movie and you can't really get more independent than that. Then again, what filmmaking romantics might define as the true indie spirit is little in evidence. How many indie directors can call on cash reserves swollen by studio special effects gigs? How many, when their picture is in the can, can plop it into the lap of a director who doesn't deal in budgets of less than $80m? A director who will then help broker a distribution deal with the big fish in the Hollywood pond? How many? Hmm, thought as much.

But the 'independent filmmakers' angle is important for the prospects of Skyline. The difference between establishment and outsider could be the difference between being received as cynically formulaic dreck or heartfelt genre homage. At Comic-Con the Strauses played up the guerilla angle, noting that the main problem during shooting was when the neighbours in the apartment block objected to the noise. And one of the more trumpeted selling points of District 9 – a movie which both Skyline and Battle: Los Angeles have been seen as trying to tap into the market for – was how much bang director Neill Blomkamp managed to extract from his buck. It is an aspect you expect the Strauses will also focus on when they start hitting the press circuit in support of their film.

We have already seen this year how many of the (very positive) reviews of Monsters have zeroed in on what director Gareth Edwards has created with a minuscule budget, and the narrative of the plucky indie production matching the profligate studio tentpoles is a pleasing narrative to present to the fan community. Ironically for Sony, its legal challenge could simply reinforce the renegade credentials of Skyline, with the upset caused to a perceived monolithic mega-corporation distinguishing that film further in the eyes of its aimed-for audience.

More on IndieMovies:
Read the latest movie news and movie reviews. Watch free movies on the site now.