How 'Push' came to shove

February 10, 2009 New information from court documents and insiders paints a colorful picture that showcases the slipperiness of festival negotiations, the bravado of indie personalities Harvey Weinstein and John Sloss and the unlikely involvement of a media powerhouse, Tyler Perry, at the center of it all. Based on the Novel by Sapphire, a triple winner at January's Sundance Film Festival whose North American rights Lionsgate bought for about $5 million and for which it has received both Perry's and Oprah Winfrey's blessing. In three separate complaints, TWC alleges fraud and breach of contract on Cinetic's part because it says the sales agent promised to sell TWC domestic rights to the pic but did not follow through and also claims Cinetic caused Smokewood to breach its contract on the deal.

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