The ink on Queen 2's shoot wrap is barely dry, and the film is already in the middle of a courtroom battle. Phantom Studios has filed a ₹250 crore lawsuit against JioStar in the Bombay High Court, alleging that the upcoming Kangana Ranaut-starrer is an "unauthorised sequel" that infringes upon the intellectual property rights of the original 2014 film Queen.
Phantom Studios claims it owns 50 per cent of the intellectual property rights to Queen, including the rights to develop any sequels or derivative works based on the film. The production house maintains that it never gave its consent for this project.
According to the Mid-Day report, Phantom Studios approached the Bombay High Court only after repeated communication with Vikas Bahl and JioStar failed to resolve the matter. A public notice had also been issued in April asserting the studio's rights, before the legal route was taken.
{{/usCountry}}According to the Mid-Day report, Phantom Studios approached the Bombay High Court only after repeated communication with Vikas Bahl and JioStar failed to resolve the matter. A public notice had also been issued in April asserting the studio's rights, before the legal route was taken.
{{/usCountry}}The lawsuit comes days after Kangana Ranaut shared glimpses from the film's wrap celebrations on Instagram, posing with the cast and crew after completing principal photography. The project had entered post-production, with no official release date announced yet.
In the latest development, JioStar rejected the allegations, maintaining that its collaboration with Kangana Ranaut is an original project with no creative connection to the National Award-winning 2014 drama.
Queen 2 marks Kangana's reunion with director Vikas Bahl.