Sony sues Fox over prime mega-billboard space near 405 freeway

By Matthew Belloni

How much does it cost a studio to put up one of those eye-catching "wrap" ads along one of the most traffic-choked freeways in the nation?

$487,500 for six months, according to a contract attached to a lawsuit filed today by Sony Pictures against 20th Century Fox and others.

Sony claims it made a deal last summer with the outdoor ad leasing company Worldwide Rush to rent the side of the freeway-adjacent building at 1606 Cotner Avenue (we couldn't find an image of it on the Web so on the left is a collage of particularly massive ads we found at banbillboardblight.com).

The Sony deal was to begin on April 27 but the complaint says Worldwide Rush, which previously rented the space to Fox, mistakenly granted Fox a conflicting option on a second year. Rather than boot Fox for Sony, and "as a result of wishing to favor Fox," Worldwide Rush ended up allowing the renewal, according to the complaint. And Sony says Fox went ahead with the deal knowing that Sony had already reserved the space.

We've spent many an hour banging our head on the steering wheel in traffic on that particular stretch of the 405 through Westwood, so we'll agree with Sony that the building is a "one-of-a-kind space" for advertising. Sony says the wall is an "integral and important" part of its marketing plans for its summer movies and wants a declaration of its rights and damages from Fox and Worldwide Rush for breach of contract and violations of the state's business and professions code.

Sony also wants an injunction. This is the rare case we can follow by checking to see if Hugh Jackman in "Wolverine" or Tom Hanks in "Angels & Demons" is staring at us in morning traffic.In fact, we're almost hoping for a little slow-down tomorrow morning.

Sony is repped by Kevin Leichter at LA's Glaser Weil Fink Jacobs & Shapiro. Robin Russell, Sony's senior exec vp of worldwide operations, marketing and distribution, signed the verification of the complaint.