FOX Entertainment Group, which is in a legal battle with Genting Malaysia Bhd over its Fox-branded theme park in the Pahang highlands resort, has blamed Genting boss Lim Kok Thay for the “doomed” project, US entertainment portal Variety reported.

Genting sued Hollywood big names Fox and Walt Disney Co in November last year over the pullout from the construction of a Fox-branded theme park outside Kuala Lumpur.

It was reported that Disney, which owns Fox, does not wants to be associated with its gambling business. Genting Malaysia is seeking more than US$1 billion (RM4.1 billion) in damages.

In Fox’s countersuit filed in Los Angeles yesterday, Variety reported that the former had said the theme park project was “doomed by Lim, the mercurial chairman” of the casino conglomerate.

Fox said that Lim “routinely demanded changes to the park’s design, failed to properly manage the project, and ignored critical deadlines”.

Among other allegations, Fox said the park was “years behind schedule and shoddily built”, with cars on some rides having bubbling paints, one ride lacking an emergency exit, and parade floats so wide that spectators would have nowhere to stand on the sidewalk.

The suit, Variety reported, also stated that Fox officials were especially alarmed that Genting disregarded the “integrity of Fox’s IP” by designing a cruise-ship style dance show featuring the creatures from the “Alien” and “Predator” movies.

It also said some park buildings were built too big or too small, requiring reconfiguration of rides to fit the space.

Fox said in its countersuit that Genting’s approach was essentially to “cut without measuring at all, wait for someone to point out its errors, and then cut again and again until Genting either got it right or shrugged it off as close enough”.

“Genting responded to Fox’s complaints by reassuring Fox that the build-and-then-wait-to-see-if-anyone-complains approach was standard local Genting construction practice.”

Fox also said a Genting creative manager told one of its reps that Lim “does not care about what Fox think(s); he will just slap it up and fight you later.”

Fox also denied Genting’s previous allegations that the former had decided to back out of the Malaysian deal because of its merger with Disney, which allegedly did not want competition for Shanghai Disneyland and to be involved with a gambling company.

Variety reported that Fox had tried to find a “graceful exit to avoid a disaster”.

A proposal was to get Genting to pay Fox a gate royalty starting this month to compensate the studio for “the growing risk to its brand”, while another way was to allow Genting to bring in other IP (intellectual property) and remove the Fox name from the theme park.

Genting rejected both ideas, leading Fox to declare a default and seek US$46 million (RM190.56 million) in royalties, fees, and travel reimbursements.

Meanwhile, Variety quoted Genting lawyer John Berlinski as saying it was expected that Fox would blame Genting “to divert attention from its own incompetence and inexperience”.

He said Genting had a proven track record in delivering high quality world-class theme parks and would prove that Fox’s termination was both unfounded and improperly directed by Disney and Fox’s parent company, Twenty First Century Fox.

“Just two months before termination, Fox was more than willing to open Fox World, but only if Genting paid them well in excess of the amounts the parties originally agreed upon,” he reportedly said.

Last month, Lim reported said the theme park “remains very much part of our plans” that were “all in place”.

He also said the theme park was “only a small part” of expansion plans for the Resorts World Genting complex. – January 24, 2019.