Will Smith & Warner Bros. Reach Settlement In Lawsuit Over Venus & Serena Williams’ Dad’s Biopic

Will Smith, Richard Williams

Will Smith & Warner Bros. Reach Settlement In Lawsuit Over Venus & Serena Williams’ Dad’s Biopic

Update #2 (Aug. 11): Will Smith and Warner Bros. are no longer facing a lawsuit over the rights to the upcoming King Richard biopic. They’ve reached a settlement agreement with the plaintiffs, TW3 Entertainment and Power Move Multi Media. The companies initially sued in June stating they had the rights to Richard Williams’, the father of tennis icons Venus and Serena Williams, life story.

WB said in a statement, according to Deadline,

“The matter has been resolved informally.”

Documents also state that both sides,

“have entered into a settlement of this matter, and Plaintiffs are dismissing their claims against these defendants with prejudice.”

Still, the plaintiffs also want to guarantee the court keeps

“jurisdiction over the parties to enforce the payment term in the settlement.”

Original Story: While the premiere of Venus and Serena Williams’ father’s biopic is months away, the project is facing new legal woes.

As previously reported, Will Smith, 51 will play Richard Williams, the father of the iconic stars, in the new biopic “King Richard.”

Richard Williams is known for being instrumental in the success of their tennis careers.  The project will be produced by Tim White and Trevor White, along with Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment company.  But this won’t be Will Smith’s first biopic. In 2001, he played Muhammad Ali in Ali, and in 2006 he played stockbroker Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness.

He received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor for both projects.

Production of the film hit a bump in the road as Richard Williams is reportedly being sued by the team who claims they previously bought the rights to his life story before the film came about.

Richard Williams