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'Raging Bull' Sequel Lawsuit: Jake LaMotta Sued by MGM

By Andrew Lu on July 05, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

"Raging Bull" may have been Martin Scorsese's best work. The classic boxing biopic featured a young Robert DeNiro portraying the rise and fall of boxer Jake LaMotta.

"Raging Bull 2" is just a horrible sequel that is so bad that it threatens to ruin the original classic, claims Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the producers of the first movie.

The giant Hollywood studio has now brought a lawsuit against the "Raging Bull 2" producers and boxer Jake LaMotta to shut the movie down.

The sequel is claimed to be a low-budget sequel/prequel of the original movie and is centered on Jake LaMotta's life, much like the first movie, reports the New York Post. While ordinarily someone would be allowed to sell their life story to whoever they please, MGM makes the argument that LaMotta cannot, as he already sold his life story back in 1976.

MGM says that it has a contract signed by LaMotta and the co-writer of his 1970 autobiography that granted the studio the exclusive rights to his book and prohibits LaMotta from producing any other work based on the "Raging Bull" story without giving MGM the first chance to accept or reject such an offer, reports the Post.

It was not reported if MGM was given the opportunity to accept or reject the story, but they now want to veto the sequel. Whether the Hollywood studio will be successful in its "Raging Bull" lawsuit will likely depend upon the language of the 1976 contract with LaMotta and how much discretion LaMotta has to sell his story to someone else.

In perhaps a bad sign for the sequel, the 90-year-old LaMotta is already distancing himself from the "Raging Bull" lawsuit. He reportedly said he knows nothing about the rights to the movie and relied on the producers of the sequel to check it out.

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