Tom Cruise, J.J. Abrams Sued for $1 Billion for Alleged Theft of Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol Script

Posted on February 6, 2014

Tom Cruise is being sued for the astounding sum of $1 billion dollars by screenwriter Timothy Patrick McLanahan. McLanahan is suing Cruise, Paramount Pictures, Skydance Phictures, Brad Grey, J.J. Abrams and others for allegedly stealing his script for the movie that became Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol.

E! reports that McLanahan says he wrote a screenplay called Head On in 1998. He gave the screenplay to William Morris. Someone took the screenplay to CAA without his permission and shown to Cruise's agent. McLanahan says William Morris had turned down his script idea due to age discrimination, but the agent continued to secretly shop the script around the world. The lawsuit does not list any specifics as to how the two scripts are similar.

Cruise's lawyer, the always combative Bert Fields, issued a statement to E! saying: "Tom Cruise has never stolen anything from anyone. This bizarre lawsuit against 13 people for combined copyright infringement and 'age discrimination' will be quickly dismissed by the Court."

McLanahan said the film made nearly one billion dollars worldwide, which is why he is asking for that sum in damages.