Paramount Defends Profit Formula: Paramount Pictures filed...

Paramount Defends Profit Formula: Paramount Pictures filed a detailed defense of its movie profit participation formula in Art Buchwald’s lawsuit over the film “Coming to America.� Superior Court Judge Harvey Schneider has already ruled that Buchwald and producer Alain Bernheim conceived the film, and he is preparing to consider damages. In its filing, Paramount contended that the studio’s actual profit margins on 13 hit films between 1978 and 1982 were relatively modest, ranging between 14.3% and 27.2%, at the time the films reached “break even� on the accounts presented to stars, writers and other participants. A hearing in the case is scheduled for April 1.