New Regency Sues Michael Mann Over Heat: Who Owns the 1995 Classic, and Does It Affect Heat 2?

New Regency, the company that produced Michael Mann’s 1995 crime epic Heat, has taken the director to federal court in California to stop him from reclaiming the copyright to his original screenplay. In the lawsuit filed Friday, November 13, the company asks a judge to declare three copyright termination notices Mann served this year invalid, arguing he wrote Heat as a “work made for hire.” Mann’s camp says it will fight the case and insists the dispute has nothing to do with Heat 2, which is due to start shooting on January 19.

Why is New Regency suing Michael Mann?

U.S. copyright law lets authors terminate a transfer of rights decades after they signed it, which is how many writers and musicians have recovered older work. That right does not apply to a work made for hire, because the employer or commissioning company is treated as the legal author from the start.

According to Deadline and Variety, Mann served New Regency with three termination notices earlier in 2026 covering the screenplay and its underlying material. The company’s 20-page complaint, which seeks a declaratory judgment, argues the screenplay is not eligible for termination at all. TheWrap reports the filing asks for the notices to be declared “null and void” and says Mann acknowledged the work-for-hire status in agreements he personally signed.

Variety reports that, according to the suit, Warner Bros. acquired the screenplay in 1994 through a deal with Mann’s loan-out company, a deal New Regency says was explicitly a work-for-hire arrangement rather than an assignment of rights. The complaint also says Mann’s lawyers initially pointed to an alleged 1988 oral agreement transferring his rights to two companies he controlled, and that two later notices cited other agreements. New Regency says all three are invalid.

What does Michael Mann say?

A spokesperson for Mann told Deadline the director is “exercising the right of authors to reclaim their work,” describing Heat as the product of personal writing he did on several screenplays in the 1980s. In a statement reported by Variety, his team added: “We will vigorously defend this action.” None of the claims in the complaint have been tested in court, and a judge has not ruled on anything yet.

New Regency, for its part, says in the complaint that if the notices took effect they would strip it, starting in 2028, of rights it has held for more than three decades and cloud its ability to develop and license new projects based on the screenplay.

Will the lawsuit delay Heat 2?

Both sides suggest not. Mann’s spokesperson said the case is unrelated to Heat 2, which begins filming January 19. The complaint notes that Mann and New Regency each have agreements with Amazon covering the sequel that depend on the outcome, and Variety reports Mann has agreed to assign any rights he recovers to Amazon, which would leave the sequel insulated either way.

Heat 2 is an Amazon MGM Studios project that Mann is directing from his own script, adapted from the 2022 bestselling novel he wrote with Meg Gardiner. Deadline lists Leonardo DiCaprio, Christian Bale, Adam Driver, Stephen Graham and Jason Clarke in the cast. The novel works as both a prequel and a sequel to the original film, which starred Al Pacino and Robert De Niro as a detective and the professional thief he hunts across Los Angeles.

What happens next?

Mann now has to respond to the complaint in court. The central question will be whether his 1980s and 1990s agreements made Heat a work for hire. If they did, his termination rights disappear; if they did not, ownership of one of Hollywood’s most influential crime films could shift back to its creator from 2028. Amazon’s investment in the sequel, and the clause tying it to this case, means the studio will be watching closely too. Nerdism has also been tracking Amazon MGM’s other big franchise decision, the search for the next James Bond.

This is a developing story.

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Sources: Deadline, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, TheWrap