Movies

Biggie Smalls is smack in the middle of another heated battle in California -- but this time, the deceased rapper's wife, Faith Evans, is the one in the hot seat.

It's all over private home videos of Christopher Wallace -- videos that a company called Kaushi Entertainment wanted to use in a documentary.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in L.A. County Superior Court, Kaushi claims they struck a deal, approved by Faith Evans, in which they would fork over $30k for all of the movies.

Kaushi claims they paid up -- but Faith Evans, along with several associates, never handed over the goods.

Long story short -- Kaushi claims they got screwed and want more than $1,000,000 to make things right.

Calls to Faith's people have not been returned.

Find a successful movie and TMZ will find a corresponding lawsuit alleging a shameless ripoff. Case in point - "Twilight."

Summit Entertainment, which owns the trademark to the stylized TWILIGHT trademark, is suing a company that is selling a "Twilight" DVD.

Here's the short story. Summit is releasing a "Twilight" documentary on DVD next month to correspond with the DVD release of "New Moon." The documentary cover features the title, "Twilight in Forks: The Saga of the Real Town," along with an image of a moonlit forest of trees. The back cover features photos of Bella's truck and the "Welcome" sign in Forks, Washington.

Summit claims the defendant, Topics Entertainment, sent copies of a flyer to Best Buy, Sam's Club and Target, advertising its own documentary titled, "Forks: Bitten by Twilight." Summit claims the art on the cover is very similar to the trademarked art and therefore deceptive.

Summit wants to put a quick end to the Topics documentary, asking a judge for an injunction and all sorts of damages.

It's all over a movie you'll probably never see called "Human Contract" -- which Jada wrote in 2007.

In legal papers filed today in L.A. County Superior Court, the couple claims the guy who financed the movie is threatening to sue them because he believes Will and Jada "guaranteed" a return on an investment to get him on board. Will and Jada claim they "made no such representations."

Long story short -- the movie went straight-to-DVD and Will and Jada admit, "it is unlikely that it will ever make a profit."

Robin Williams just lost a $6 million lawsuit over the movie "Cop Out" -- formerly titled "A Couple of Dicks."

Williams had sued Gold Circle Films, claiming he was hired to star in the flick and was entitled to a $6 million fee whether the movie was made or not. Gold Circle pulled the plug on the movie and eventually gave up the rights. Warner Bros. ended up producing the movie with Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan.

Gold Circle claimed it never had a contract with Williams and never guaranteed him a "play or pay" fee. The judge agreed and tossed the case this morning on a summary judgment motion.

The lawsuit was filed by Williams' company, Fiat Risus, Inc.

The lawyers for Gold Circle, Michael Holtz and Marty Singer, call the case a "meritless lawsuit" and tell TMZ they will ask the court for attorney's fees and court costs.

UPDATE: Warner Bros. just gave us the following statement: "Any claim that Warner Bros. Pictures was somehow responsible for Brittany Murphy's tragic death is demonstrably false, reprehensible, and defamatory. Despite press reports to the contrary, Warner Bros. Pictures and Ms. Murphy never entered into any deal for "Happy Feet 2," and thus, there was not a contract to cancel."

Brittany Murphy's husband, Simon Monjack, says Warner Bros. is responsible for the death of his wife and he plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the company.

Monjack told The Daily Beast Murphy was devastated after reportedly losing a role in the sequel to "Happy Feet." Monjack believes losing the movie caused Murphy to have a heart attack.

The L.A. County Coroner has not released the cause of death.

Before the "Happy Feet" setback, Brittany Murphy had been fired from the film, "The Caller," shot in Puerto Rico. There were numerous reports about her erratic behavior on the set.

Monjack said, "Warner Brothers relied on conjecture and hearsay about the Puerto Rico film for why they canceled Brittany's role in Happy Feet."

Monjack reportedly is days away from filing suit. Warner Bros. has no comment.

UPDATE: The producers of "The Caller" tell TMZ "The decision for Brittany to leave the film was mutual and amicable, and was in fact related to a serious illness in Brittany's family. Any rumors to the contrary are false, and in the circumstances, particularly hurtful."

Mel Gibson's movie career is changing the way bad guys serve time in Mexico -- 300 inmates have been moved to another big house to make room for a movie Gibson is shooting.

It's all going down at the Ignacio Allende prison in Veracruz, Mexico -- the prison director claims he's emptied part of the prison so Mel could use the facility for an upcoming movie.

The prison director says the inmates have been sent to at least 4 jails. It's unclear which movie Gibson is planning to shoot inside the facility.