Way back in May I posted a story about an upcoming Godfather prequel novel, The Family Corleone, set to be released in May. Unlike 2005′s sequel novels The Godfather Returns and The Godfather’s Revenge, The Family Corleone is based in part on an unproduced screenplay by deceased Godfather author Mario Puzo, who also co-wrote the screenplays for all three films. But according to the New York Post, Paramount Pictures has filed a suit to prevent the novel’s release.
The reason? Paramount claims it intends to prevent damage to “the legacy and integrity of the Godfather franchise,” which, as owner of the rights to the films, Paramount certainly has a vested interest in. In fact, Paramount cites the aforementioned The Godfather Returns, which it claims “received mediocre reviews and suffered weak sales,” as an example of how the upcoming prequel novel could damage the films’ reputations. Paramount adds, “Far from properly honoring the legacy of The Godfather, the unauthorized The Godfather’s Revenge tarnished it, and in the process, also misled consumers into believing that The Godfather’s Revenge was authorized by Paramount, or otherwise affiliated or connected to The Godfather and Paramount’s Godfather franchise.” Ouch! Well, Paramount does have one thing right here — The Godfather’s Revenge is a terrible book (it’s the only book I ever gave up on reading halfway through).
The Puzo estate and Paramount have battled over the Godfather for several years, including a legal battle over 2006’s Godfather video game. I’d prefer it if the Puzo family booted the novel and the two sides instead released the Puzo script, which is speculated to be Puzo’s rough draft of what was to be The Godfather Part IV, which covered the early days of Vito Corleone (roughly 1926-1939, after the flashback scenes in Godfather Part II) and the then “modern day” leadership of Vincent Mancini-Corleone (played by Andy Garcia in Godfather Part III). I’d much rather read Puzo’s original material than someone’s rewrite of it.
Just as long as nobody tries to turn the script into a film. We didn’t even need a Godfather Part III!
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