Blade Runner 2049's Production Company Files Lawsuit Against Tesla and Elon Musk

The lawsuit highlights the significant financial implications of misappropriation and questions Tesla's partnerships amid controversies surrounding Elon Musk’s public persona.

Alcon Entertainment, the production firm behind the acclaimed film Blade Runner 2049, has taken legal action against Tesla, Elon Musk, and Warner Bros Discovery over alleged unauthorized usage of images from the film. According to the lawsuit, which was filed after the Tesla robotaxi launch event on October 10, the firm claims it had explicitly rejected a request from Warner Bros to use material from Blade Runner 2049 at the event.

Despite this refusal, Alcon alleges that Tesla used artificial intelligence to generate promotional imagery reminiscent of the film for the robotaxi launch. The extent of this misappropriation, as stated in the lawsuit, is alleged to be substantial from a financial standpoint. The complaint also suggests that potential partners may need to reconsider their association with Tesla, citing Musk's unpredictable and highly publicized behavior, which sometimes crosses into controversial territory.

The lawsuit further accuses the event organizers of misleading the public into believing that there was a partnership between Tesla and Alcon. Warner Bros, which hosted the launch event at one of its studio locations and was also the film’s distributor when Blade Runner 2049 debuted in 2017, is named as a co-defendant.

The visually stunning sequel which starred Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, and Jared Leto, earned two Academy Awards, and its legacy has often been referenced by Musk himself. He has previously alluded to the original Blade Runner as an influence on the design of Tesla’s Cybertruck, linking the company’s innovative ethos to the film’s themes.

Meanwhile, Alcon is currently busy working on a new television series titled Blade Runner 2099. In an interesting side note, the director of another sci-fi classic, I, Robot, has also expressed concerns over similar issues, accusing Musk of drawing inspiration from his designs for both humanoid robots and autonomous vehicles. The title chosen for Tesla's event—We, Robot—has drawn attention for its nod to Isaac Asimov's renowned short story collection, leading I, Robot's director, Alex Proyas, to humorously request the return of his designs directly to Musk via social media. While the post received significant attention, it also elicited skepticism regarding the claims of originality in design.