Topic: Sony pays $1.5m over fake critic

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Posted at September 26, 2013, 12:00 am:


BBC News

A judge has finalized a settlement in which film studio Sony will pay $1.5m (£850,000) to film fans after using a fake critic to praise its movies.

In 2001, ads for films including Hollow Man and A Knight's Tale quoted praise from a reviewer called David Manning, who was exposed as being invented.

People who saw the films can now get a $5 (£2.80) refund from Sony's pay-out, lawyer Norman Blumenthal said.

Sony did not admit liability in the settlement and declined to comment.

The studio reached the out-of-court agreement to settle the case and avoid the cost and uncertainty of litigation, according to a court notice.

The settlement was agreed last year but has only just been approved by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl.

If the full $1.5m is not claimed, any money left over will go to charity, Mr Blumenthal said.

'Fabricated quotes'

Promotional material for other films including The Patriot, Vertical Limit and The Animal also carried quotes from "David Manning of The Ridgefield Press".

He supposedly called Heath Ledger "this year's hottest new star" for his role in A Knight's Tale, said The Animal was "another winner" and Hollow Man was "one hell of a scary ride".

But The Ridgefield Press, a small paper in Connecticut, said David Manning had never worked for them.

Sony temporarily suspended two employees following an internal investigation into "fabricated quotes on four movie ads".


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Replies:

empty post

Heard this on the news the other night.

I assume you'd have to have kept your ticket stub.

Quote: Originally Posted by Austruck I assume...

The whole thing doesn't add up.

Quote: Originally Posted by Austruck I assume...

Quote: Originally Posted by jrs As for Hollow...

I keep some ticket stubs.

I keep all my cinema tickets.

Quote: Originally Posted by Pyro Tramp As for...

IMDB is full of them.

i usually keep all my ticket stubs for a few years, then i throw some ...

cool story, yeah stick it to the man! (the man being sony in case you ...

sony.

What a bunch of frauds and cheap shots.

the persons awarded the $5 are probably the people who contributed an ...

Quote: Originally Posted by Austruck Historic...

Golg .

It wasn't Splash was it? (Otherwise known as You've Got Tail) For ...

Oh yeah, we'd take a two-year-old to see "Splash.

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