Schwarzenegger’s Christmas classic was sued by a publishing house for plagiarising their writer’s work.

SUMMARY

Arnold Schwarzenegger decided to diversify his career from an action star, which is why he took the role in Jingle All The Way.

The film was a family comedy and a Christmas classic for many as it showed the star in a new, more comical light.
Sadly, 20th Century Fox was later sued by a publishing company for this film, who accused them of plagiarising their copyrighter screenplay.

Many stars define the decades or eras of the film industry that they were part of, and Arnold Schwarzenegger was one of the most prominent faces of the Action Era of the film industry in the late ’70s and ’80s.

But unlike many of his peers, he didn’t just stick to that image and decided to diversify his career with many memorable comedy films in his resume.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in a still from Total Recall
From a long list of those films, his most popular is his Christmas classic Family Comedy Jingle All The Way, released back in 1996.

But unlike the joys of Christmas in the movie, it was anything but happy for 20th Century Fox, who had to fight a legal battle after the film was sued for plagiarism, and later, losing the legal battle for $20 Million.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Found His Christmas Film Jingle All The Way In A Legal Battle of Plagiarism

Arnold Schwarzenegger in a still from Jingle All The Way
Considered one of the star’s best efforts to increase his appeal to newer, younger audiences, Jingle All The Way was Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s way of distancing himself a little from his testosterone-filled action star persona.

And while he did manage to make the impression he was hoping for, the film had its fair share of controversies that might’ve left a bad taste for many.

The film managed to earn a whopping $130 million during its entire run in 1996, which was considered a commercial success, but later, it found itself being sued by a publisher.

A couple of years later, 20th Century Fox found itself being sued by Murray Hill Publishing for the film led by the Predator star.

The lawsuit charged the production company with the account of plagiarism, allegedly because the film was a complete copy of a screenplay written by a high school teacher named Brian Webster.

That screenplay, titled Could This Be Christmas, was bought by the publishers, making it their copyrighted property, and seeing that so much of Schwarzenegger’s film had instances of the scenes and storylines being almost identical to their screenplay, they filed the case in court.

After a lot of back and forth, the court finally ruled the judgment in Murray Hill Publishing’s favor in 2001, which mandated that 20th Century Fox pay $20 million to the publishers.

What Was Jingle All The Way About?

A still from Jingle All The Way
The core component of what made the film a classic for many was the social message of how the commercialization of Christmas took away its spirit and how people needed to realize that.

Jingle All The Way tells the tale of a workaholic man named Howard Langston, who is a mattress salesman who also involuntarily neglects his family.

Thus, to make it up to his son and his wife, he decided to bring them the gifts that they wanted.

But when he finds out that the figurine that his son always wanted is all sold out, Howard does his level best, going to any end to get it for his son, and in turn, finding the dark side of Christmas.