The 1987 studio trade that cost Arthur his future — how sequel/remake rights were bartered for Hitchcock clips

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The 1987 studio trade that cost Arthur his future — how sequel/remake rights were bartered for Hitchcock clips

Arthur 2: On the Rocks / Throw Momma from the Train / 1980s

In an almost archetypal example of late-Studio-System deal-making, the fate of Arthur's sequel was decided not in a writers' room but at the negotiating table in 1987. Warner Bros. Pictures and Orion Pictures struck an unusual trade: Orion — whose Larry Brezner produced both projects — wanted permission to use clips from Alfred Hitchcock's 1951 Strangers on a Train in the Danny DeVito comedy Throw Momma from the Train (1987). The price set by Brezner's company was the surrender of the remake and sequel rights to Arthur, rights that had been jointly owned by Jack Rollins, Charles H. Joffe, Buddy Morra, Larry Brezner and Warner Bros. Because Warner could not lawfully proceed with a sequel without the consent of Brezner's company, Brezner leveraged that control and effectively transferred sequel/remake control to Warner in exchange for the clip clearance. The deal reads like a parable about how intellectual-property levers, personal production credits, and single-shot permissions could be used as currency — and it led directly to the greenlighting of Arthur 2: On the Rocks under Warner’s stewardship. The sequel that followed (1988) proved critically and commercially underwhelming, earning only $14.7 million against the original’s $95.5 million, a sobering payoff for a bargaining chip that reshaped the franchise's ownership.