Genting Malaysia is suing Walt Disney Co and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc for more than US$1 billion, accusing the famous US entertainment giants of reneging on a contract to build a Fox theme park at its Malaysian integrated resort, Resorts World Genting.
The lawsuit, filed with the US District Court in Los Angeles, relates to a contract signed in 2013 with Genting Malaysia claiming Fox subsequently forced years of delays after suffering “seller’s remorse” – ultimately costing Genting millions in potential ticket sales.
According to report by Reuters, the lawsuit accuses Disney of wanting to terminate the contract because it does not want to be associated with a gaming company. It also says that Fox issued a default notice in a bid to terminate the contract which was “entirely consistent with Disney wanting to kill the deal.”
“Given that [Fox] had no right to terminate the Agreement, Fox and Disney are liable for what will exceed a billion dollars in damages attributable to the bad-faith behavior of both Fox and Disney,” the complaint says.
“Seller’s remorse – first by Fox and later by Disney – is not a valid ground for terminating an agreement.”
The lawsuit says it was Disney that first planted the seed that the contract should be terminated.
“Unlike Fox, which was perfectly happy to have the park situated a stone’s throw from the casinos of Resorts World Genting so long as it could continue to extract financial concessions from Genting, Disney wanted no association with a gaming company,” it says.
Genting states that it has already invested around US$750 million in the project.
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