Walt Disney Co and 21st Century Fox Inc were sued by Malaysia’s casino resort Genting Malaysia Berhad (GENM.KL) for more than $1 billion on Monday, for pulling out of an agreement to sponsor a Fox World theme park outside Kuala Lumpur.
According to Genting, Disney is now calling the shots as it is now finalising its acquisition on 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets, thus it refused to be associated with Genting’s gambling business.
“Unlike Fox, which was perfectly happy to have the Park situated a stone’s throw from the casinos of Resorts World Genting so long as it could continue to extract financial concessions from GENM, Disney wanted no association with a gaming company like GENM due to Disney’s ‘family-friendly’ brand strategy,” read the suit.
The theme park which is running years behind schedule, was initially slated to open in 2016, but it has been repeatedly delayed.
It is revealed that Genting has spent more than $750 million developing the theme park, which is intended to be on par with the Universal Studios Singapore at its sister’s resort, Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore.
In the suit, Genting also states that Fox has used the delays as justification to cancel the deal. However, Genting alleges that the delays were Fox’s fault.
Genting is seeking damages in excess of $1 billion in an attempt to recoup its investment, as well as “consequential and punitive” damages.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter
