4 times filmmaker was accused of 'idea theft'

Box office success isn't all these films by Omoni Oboli have in common. The originality of these movies were challenged by lawsuit and reports claiming "screenplay idea theft."

Pulse Movies has put together four times the actress found herself in an 'idea theft' controversy.

1. "Being Mrs Elliott"

Oboli made her directorial debut with the movie, Being Mrs Elliott. A romantic comedy, it was successful and got to win awards and screen at international film festivals.

In 2016, a Canada based writer, Jude Idada, revealed that he had sent a film treatment to the actress. However, Jude claims Oboli went ahead to produce a movie off the script without his consent or due payments.

Idada claims that he found out about the movie at the 2014 Nollywood Week Paris, where the movie screened.

Pulse Nigeria recently spoke to an undisclosed source, who revealed that while Oboli admits to receiving a treatment to Idada, she claims to have forgotten about her discussion with Idada.

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2. "The First Lady"

According to an undisclosed source, the filmmaker had issues with a young lady over the screenplay of the comedy movie, "The First Lady."

The dispute was however settled by her friend and colleague, Blessing Egbe.

"The First Lady," tells the story of Michelle, a prostitute who is stuck with her pimp, Obama. While she awaits her prince charming, aN heir to an empire, Kenechi, is transformed into a child by an overly ambitious uncle who wants the empire to himself.

Bound by a shared destiny, Michelle finds that she might be doing the rescuing until she realises there's no escaping her pimp who would do anything to keep her.

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3. "Wives on Strike"

In March 2016, after the release of the official trailer of "Wives on Strike," the actress responded to reports that the movie which is about a group of women who decide to deprive their men of sex for the sake of a cause, was copied from the Spike Lee movie, ‘Chiraq’.

In her defence, the actress stated that the movie concept came to her about four years ago when she wanted to do a movie about women going on strike, but just couldn’t find a sensible reason for the strike.

She further revealed that she heard of ‘Chiraq’ for the first time in 2015, when her husband, Nnamdi Oboli, sent her the trailer.

"Wives on Strike" was released in 2016, and had a successful box office outing.

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4. "Okafor's Law"

The most recent and also the most controversial of them all is "Okafor's Law," which had its world premiere at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival as part of its City to City Spotlight.

In September 2016, Jude Idada publicly accused Omoni Oboli of stealing his idea for her movie, "Okafor's Law."

While Idada claims that everything but the title of the film belongs to him,

On Friday, March 24, 2017, an hour to an already scheduled premiere of the movie in Nigeria, at IMAX Cinemas, Lekki, Oboli, Dioni Visions and Filmone were served an injunction to halt the release of the movie.

A week after the cancelled premiere, the court granted Omoni Oboli the go ahead to release “Okafor’s Law” on Friday, March 31, 2017.

Though the Court lifted the injunction, the case is still in court, and first hearing of the substantive matter happened on April 3 and April 4, 2017.

The case was adjourned to May 17, 2017.

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