Will Smith's Production Company Reaches Settlement Over Film Based on Serena and Venus Williams' Father

Will Smith at Focus premiere
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Smith's production company, Overbrook Entertainment, and Warner Bros. had been sued in June.

Will Smith's production company, Overbrook Entertainment, and Warner Bros. have reached a settlement after being sued over their upcoming biopic, King Richard, based on Serena and Venus Williams' father, Richard Williams.

In court docs obtained by ET, Warner Bros., Overbrook, Williams and his son and business partner Chavoita Lesane, and production company Star Thrower Entertainment (as well as its executives Timothy and Trevor White) "have entered into a settlement" with TW3 Entertainment and Power Move Multi Media, who are "dismissing their claims against defendants with prejudice."

The two parties, however, ask the court retain "jurisdiction over the Parties to enforce the payment term in the settlement." ET has reached out to Smith for comment.

As ET reported in June, TW3 Entertainment and Power Move Multi Media claimed that they were the true owners of the tennis coach's life rights.

TW3 Entertainment and Power Move Multimedia claimed they were the true owners of Williams' story because they bought the rights to his 2014 memoir, Black and White: The Way I See It, in 2017. In court docs obtained by ET at the time, they claimed they bought the rights from Lesan, who allegedly had been given power of attorney by his father for "purposes of dealing with film and media rights for his book." Lesane was allegedly involved in an initial draft of a script for the project too. Williams later sold the rights to his life for King Richard for $1 million.

King Richard -- starring Smith, Saniyya Sidney as Venus and Demi Singleton as Serena -- was set to hit theaters in 2021.

Reporting by Joseph Corral. 

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