Producer sues over Patient film

Zaentz's first effort, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, won five Academy Awards

The film producer behind Oscar-winning movie The English Patient is suing Walt Disney and subsidiary Miramax, claiming they did not share the film's profits.

Saul Zaentz said in court papers filed in Los Angeles that he created a joint venture to co-finance The English Patient and share in its profits.

Zaentz alleges Miramax "used fraudulent and unfair accounting", according to trade magazine the Hollywood Reporter.

Walt Disney and Miramax were unavailable for comment.

The papers said The English Patient, which swept the board at the Oscars in 1997, cost $35m to produce and made $100m at the box office.

Illustrious career

Zaentz won the Academy Award for best picture for the World War II drama starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe and Kristin Scott Thomas.

The filed papers claim that Miramax used inappropriate accounting practices to try to show it still had to recoup costs associated with the acquisition, distribution and marketing of the film.

Zaentz has also won best picture Academy Awards for Amadeus and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

Last year, he settled a $20m (£10m) case against New Line Cinema over profits for the Lord of the Rings films.