A New York Playwright Is Placing A Lawsuit Against Warner Bros and Showtime For Hit Movie "Barbershop"

A New York Playwright Is Placing A Lawsuit Against Warner
Bros and Showtime For Hit Movie "Barbershop" 

BHR Hollywood Reports.........A New York playwright filed a lawsuit on Monday claiming $20 million in damages and seeking to block Friday's opening in movie theaters of "Barbershop: The Next Cut," the fourth of a series of comedies that he claims rips off his stage play "Scissors."

"Barbershop: The Next Cut" is supposed to hit theaters Friday -- but a playwright wants a judge to shut it down immediately, because it rips off his stage play ... according to the guy's lawsuit.

JD Lawrence 

JD Lawrence says all 3 'Barbershop' flicks, and the Showtime TV series, bear an uncanny resemblance to scenes from "Scissors" ... a play he wrote and toured around the country from 1998 to
2001.

He says his play was set in a barbershop in a black neighborhood, and focused on the shop's importance to the community ... which, of course, is the same as the movies.

Ice Cube 

Lawrence says the similarities include ... characters, plot lines, and events. He points out "Scissors" has an elderly owner -- just
like Cedric the Entertainer's character, Eddie. And both feature similar discussions about the O.J. Simpson murder trial -- and white barbers who get clowned ... for being white.

"Barbershop: The Next Cut," which stars Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Eve and Nicki Minaj, is the latest of a series of films about the owners of a Chicago barbershop and an Atlanta beauty salon, their employees and neighborhood problems such as gangs and gentrification.

Cedric The Entertainer, Nicki Minaj, And Ice Cube 

The case is Ronald Dickerson aka JD Lawrence vs Time Warner Inc. et al, U.S. District Court,
Southern District Court Of New York, No. 16-02695.

Warner Bros and MGM -- say the lawsuit "falsely attempts to discredits the gifted writers, producers, and directors" who have worked on the franchise. They also say they intend to go after Lawrence for filing an "exploitative suit.

He's suing Warner Bros and Showtime for at least $20 million, and wants to block the release of 'The Next Cut.' Tick-tock ... Friday's coming up real quick.