Dispute Over the Tupac Biopic: Morgan Creek Sues Afeni Shakur

Since November 2008, film company Morgan Creek and Afeni Shakur had been negotiating over a feature film about Tupac’s life. In February 2009, the matter landed before the Superior Court in Los Angeles. Morgan Creek accused Afeni Shakur and her company Amaru Entertainment of failing to honor an agreement regarding the film rights to Tupac’s life story, and demanded damages.

“There Was Never an Agreement”

Afeni Shakur’s attorney Skip Miller countered to Reuters: there had never been a contract with Morgan Creek. Instead, the company had scared off Paramount, Fox, and other studios; his client, for her part, wanted to sue for millions. According to AllHipHop, insiders suspected that talks collapsed following the theatrical release of Notorious, the film about The Notorious B.I.G..

A few days later, Afeni Shakur spoke out herself. Tupac had touched so many people in his short life, she felt honored to keep his message alive, and wanted to walk that path with integrity. A spokesperson for Amaru called the lawsuit baseless and expressed confidence that the film would be made. Amaru announced a countersuit. How the story continued is recounted in the reports from March and September 2009.