Walt Disney and Twenty-First Century Fox are facing a billion-dollar lawsuit after they allegedly tried to engineer their way out of a major theme park deal in Asia.
Genting Malaysia filed a lawsuit in the US accusing Disney of forcing Fox to breach its 2013 contract for a first ever Fox-branded theme park at Resorts World Genting in Malaysia.
The filing says Fox had tried to delay the project as it did not get a share of ticket sales, and Disney has been trying to get the agreement nullified as associating with a gaming company is not compatible with its ‘family-friendly’ brand image.
Genting claimed Fox issued a default notice in a manner ‘entirely consistent with Disney wanting to kill the deal.’
"Given that FEG 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 suit said.
Genting claims it had already made a ‘$750 million-plus investment’ in the project and is seeking punitive damages.
Resorts World Genting is a huge theme park and gaming complex featuring multiple hotels, shopping malls and the country’s only legal casino resort.
Genting is hoping the timing of the lawsuit will be to its advantage.
The planned multi-billion dollar Disney-Fox merger is expected to close in the New Year.
