Maintaining that he brought Thing and It to fictional life, the creator of The Addams Family TV series is suing the creators of the The Addams Family movie for $50 million.
David Levy, who holds rights to the 1964-66 series, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in California state court. Among the defendants: Paramount Studios and Orion Productions, which sold Paramount the uncompleted film for about $22 million.
"They appropriated his ideas and concepts," said Levy's attorney. "He named the characters, he put the concept together. He invented the characters Thing and It completely."
Levy also contends he created patriarch Gomez Addams' fencing expertise and wife Morticia's sizzling bedroom talk, gave Uncle Fester enough voltage to light a bulb in his mouth and conceived butler Lurch's organ playing. Levy based many of the characters on those conceived by New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams.
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The suit was eventually settled out of court, after the film's release, due to Paramount wanting to quickly film a sequel due to the film's success.
Source
Sentinel, Orlando. “'ADDAMS FAMILY' SERIES CREATOR SUING FILM STUDIOS OVER THING, IT.” OrlandoSentinel.com, Orlando Sentinel, 7 Jan. 1992, www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1992-01-17-9201170607-story.html.