In this era of comic-book movies, reboots, and IP, a new Dick Tracy seems like a can’t-miss project. The original film, directed by and starring Warren Beatty, became a major hit in 1990, grossing over $100 million in the U.S. alone. And yet a sequel never materialized.
Well, would you settle for a 30-minute TV special where Warren Beatty talks to himself as Dick Tracy over a Zoom call?
So what the hell was that all about? You can go to the Dick Tracy Wikipedia page to find out; the section titled “Possible sequel, legal issues and reboot” contains nine paragraphs and almost 1,000 words on the subject. In short(ish): In the 1980s, Beatty had bought the rights to make Dick Tracy movies directly from Tribune, the owners of the original comic strip. Then he brought his rights to Disney, where he made his Dick Tracy movie.
For a variety of reasons, he was never able to get a sequel off the ground, and eventually Tribune tried to reclaim their rights so they could try to make their own Dick Tracy films or TV shows — at which point Beatty claimed they were trying to breach their deal and filed suit.
In the legal battle that followed, Tribune claimed that per the original contract after a “certain period of time” without a new Dick Tracy movie, series, or special, they’d get their rights back. According to a Reuters report on the outcome of the case (which Beatty won), in 2006, Tribune set Beatty a letter “that gave him two years to begin production on Dick Tracy programming.”
And so, in 2008, Beatty made the first Dick Tracy Special that’s embedded above. The judge in that case found that “Beatty’s commencement of principal photography of his television special on November 8, 2008 was sufficient for him to retain the Dick Tracy rights.”
Warren Beatty Just Made One of the Weirdest Sequels Ever
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