Cineworld and its CEO, Muki Greidinger, were found guilty by an Israeli court of violating the terms of a 2010 merger by supplying films to a Tel Aviv cinema. The lawsuit, filed by the local competition authority, argues that Cineworld’s local distributor Forum Film has not delivered eight films to Tel Aviv’s Lev Cinema in a ten-year period. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs this week with a fine to be imposed in October.
Cineworld said it will not comment until a final decision on the fine is made in October.
Deadline understands that the problem stems from a 2010 merger between Cineworld’s local distribution company, Forum Film, and another Israeli company, Matalon. They both had deals with major Hollywood studios. Due to the size of the companies, the competition authority imposed the terms of the agreement. One of them was to provide all broad release titles to Israeli cinemas that requested them. Since then, around 600 films have been distributed through the companies.
Tel Aviv’s Lev cinema said it hadn’t received eight films in 10 years and filed a lawsuit, which ultimately led to criminal charges rather than a typical court settlement.
This week, a court passed a plea deal and convicted Forum Films for failing to release eight films; Furthermore, the court found Gradenger guilty of failing to supervise the company in a way that would have prevented a no-bid. Additionally, two directors of the film forum were removed from the case.
The court will decide on the fine in October.
Source: Deadline
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