MPAA permits Weinstein Co. to use ‘Lee Daniels’ ‘The Butler’ title

This post has been updated. See below for details.

The spirit of compromise prevailed late Friday in the drawn-out legal battle over the title of director Lee Daniels’ upcoming historical drama “The Butler.�

The MPAA overturned its original ruling from earlier this month that would have forced the Weinstein Co.-distributed film – which stars Forrest Whitaker as a domestic servant who worked for eight sitting presidents in the White House -- to strike the word “butler� from its title because a 1916 silent comedy short called “The Butler� already exists in the Warner Bros. archives.

The new decision allows for the use of “butler� in conjunction with other words – most likely “Lee Daniels’ The Butler� – stipulating that the lettering for the words “Lee Daniels� has to be at least 75% the size of the words “The Butler.�

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The new ruling arrives on the heels of no small amount of legal head-banging and public hair-splitting between Warner Bros. and Weinstein Co. In early July, Weinstein Co.’s high-powered attorney, David Boies, fired off letters to the MPAA and Warner Bros. disputing allegations that it had flouted the MPAA’s title registration process. And Daniels sent a heartfelt personal appeal to Warner Bros. Entertainment Chief Executive Kevin Tsujihara (the studio boss responded with a private letter).

Warner Bros. attorney John Spiegel went on to slam Weinstein Co. in a letter to the MPAA in which he points to the independent studio’s “disturbing pattern and practice of flagrant [Title Registration Bureau] rules violations.�

Harvey Weinstein of Weinstein Co. appeared on CBS’s “This Morning� to air his greivances – incidentally drumming up hype for the film, which arrives in theaters Aug. 16 – where he pointed out that “122 times in the history of movies titles have been used and repeated.� Case in point: the Melissa McCarthy-Sandra Bullock buddy cop comedy “The Heat,� the Robert DeNiro-Al Pacino crime thriller “Heat� and the 1986 Burt Reynolds action flick “Heat.�

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Under the new MPAA ruling, news of which Variety broke Friday evening, Weinstein Co. now owes the Entertainment Industry Foundation $400,000 for continuing to use the title “The Butler� in violation of the MPAA’s original order. The independent studio will have to pony up $25,000 per day if it continues to use the unaltered title “The Butler� – a sum that will bump up to $50,000 per day if advertising, trailers and websites billing the movie as “The Butler� are not pulled by July 26. Weinstein Co. has also been ordered to pay Warner Bros. $150,000 in legal fees.

(Update: An earlier version of this post erroneously stated that Deadline broke the news of this ruling. Variety posted its report at 7:34 pm, a full six minutes ahead of Deadline’s.)

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