Legendary Pictures have hired Frank Darabont, the first season showrunner on AMC’s smash-hit drama The Walking Dead, to rewrite their upcoming Godzilla film, which is scheduled to go into production this year.The move comes as producers Dan Lin and Roy Lee, who were instrumental in bringing the rights for the film to Legendary in the first place, are engaged in a conflict with Legendary that may see the pair dropped from the film altogether, Deadline reports. While an earlier report has painted the pair as separating amicably from Legendary, Deadline claims that the odds are good that the parties will end up in court.Says Deadline, “My understanding is, Lin and Lee refused to reduce the fees they signed on for when the original deal was made. Legendary brass feels it has the latitude to get rid of them, and is doing just that, exercising a pay or play clause and paying them upfront money to go away, with no back-end or credit on the film. The potential back-end on a global franchise is where the big bucks are.”The site adds that while Lin and Lee work for Warner Brothers, who will co-produce and distribute the film globally (except in Japan, where Toho retains the distribution rights), Warner has no comment on the situation as it’s developing. Warner’s relationship with Legendary is significant; the pair have co-produced the Dark Knight Trilogy together and have Man of Steel coming in June. The pair presented a teaser for Godzilla together at their mutual Comic-Con panel this year.Gareth Edwards will direct Godzilla, which is slated to be released on May 16, 2014.
