Jury Awards $20 Million to Coppola in ‘Pinocchio’ Suit

A Los Angeles jury on Thursday awarded Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola a hefty $20 million in a lawsuit against Warner Bros. claiming the studio interfered with his plans to make a version of the classic tale “Pinocchio.”

Coppola--acclaimed director of the “Godfather” movies and “Apocalypse Now”--argued that Warner Bros. illegally claimed ownership of a combination live-action/computer-animated production of “Pinocchio” that he planned to direct, which blocked him from setting up the project at Columbia Pictures. Coppola’s argument was that he never actually signed a contract with Warner, so the studio’s ownership claim was invalid under U.S. copyright law.

The award by the Superior Court jury is relatively large for such a case, and it surprised Hollywood. The jury may also add punitive damages after it reconvenes next week.

Warner said it will appeal the award and “expects that post judgment motions or an appeal will vindicate its position.”

In a statement, the studio added that “both Warner Bros. and Mr. Coppola’s representatives believed that they had a deal . . . which Coppola then unilaterally terminated despite the fact that he had signed a certificate of employment, had performed and had been paid.”

One effect of the case may be that studios will be more cautious about using the relatively informal agreements that are often the basis for multimillion-dollar deals. Last year, “White Men Can’t Jump” director Ron Shelton won a $9.8-million judgment against 20th Century Fox over what he said was an oral agreement to share in the film’s profits. The studio is appealing.

Although it’s common for “long form” contracts--lengthy, formal agreements spelling out terms--to not be signed in Hollywood, and despite the fact that Coppola reportedly did not sign such contracts on two films he previously made at Warner Bros., the jury found that Warner had no ownership.

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Coppola’s attorney, Robert Chapman, said the filmmaker was “very pleased” with the ruling. “It was a labor of love,” Chapman said. “It was a very personal project of his. Warner Bros. knew that, and they shouldn’t have tried to stop it.” Chapman added, however, that the time had probably passed for the making of the film.

In court, Coppola showed videotape and a sculpture model of his concepts for “Pinocchio.” He said actors Lauren Bacall, Christopher Walken and Anthony Quinn were among those who had expressed interest in making his version of the Carlo Collodi tale, conceived as a musical set in Europe during the World War II era.

Warner Bros. attorney J. Larson Jaenicke said the studio declined to make the film largely based on its projected $100-million price tag. Coppola countered in court that he could have made the film for about $70 million.

In the meantime, New Line Cinema in 1996 released a live-action version, “The Adventures of Pinocchio,” to disappointing box-office results. Disney’s 1940 animated “Pinocchio” remains Hollywood’s most successful version.

This isn’t the first time Coppola has sued over a film project. In December 1996, Coppola sued the estate of the late pop astronomer Carl Sagan over the rights to Sagan’s novel “Contact,” made into a Warner Bros. film last year without Coppola. The suit was dismissed and Coppola is appealing.

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Times staff writer Ann W. O’Neill and Associated Press contributed to this report.