# In 1998, Warner Bros blocked Francis Ford Coppola’s next movie. He was awarded $80 million in damages and ended up with nothing

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/in-1998-warner-bros-blocked-francis-ford-coppolas-next-movie-he-was-awarded-80-million-in-damages-and-ended-up-with-nothing/
- Published: 2026-10-26T17:15:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-27T02:50:38+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/warner-bros-blocked-francis-ford-coppolas-next-movie-80-million-in-damages/
- Topics: Entertainment, Film

## Key points

- Coppola won an $80 million award against Warner Bros in 1998.
- The dispute centred on his proposed Pinocchio film.
- An appeals court overturned the award in 2001.

## Summary

Francis Ford Coppola won an $80 million judgement against Warner Bros in 1998 after the studio tried to prevent his planned Pinocchio film from going ahead. The ruling appeared to vindicate his claim to the project, but the film was never made and the award was later overturned, leaving him with no payment.

Coppola’s adaptation had received approval from Columbia Pictures in 1994, while Warner Bros argued it retained rights because it had previously commissioned a screenplay. The original award comprised $60 million in punitive damages and $20 million in compensation. In 2001, an appeals court removed the $20 million award and rejected Coppola’s appeal over the remaining $60 million, finding Warner’s position had some merit.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.