Thai audiences can now breathe a sigh of relief this week for the release of international action star Tony Jaa’s latest Hollywood debut, Furious 7. Word from The Bangkok Post reports that the Civil Court has lifted the injunction initially requested by Jaa’s former management, Sahamongkol Film International Co., Ltd. against Universal Pictures and the film’s Thailand distributor, United International Pictures Far East Co.
The injunction came several days ago at the behest of Sahamongkol’s chief founder and executive, Somsak Techarantanaprasert who asked for THB 1.6 billion (roughly $50 million USD) claiming the release of the film would cause irreversible damages to the company. The decision to lift the injunction ultimately came as the result of Techarantanaprasert having known about the film as of two years ago when, in a separate court in front of a different judge, he, in the company of director Prachya Pinkaew and Panna Rittikrai accused Jaa of breaching a contract which Jaa and his new manager, Mike Selby have long argued its non-existence.
I spoke to an individual last week pertaining to the legal specifics and details regarding both cases and you can read about them by clicking here. In the meantime, an official court hearing regarding the contract dispute still is pending for June. As for the decision, it’s a clear sign that any attempt Techarantanaprasert makes to try and stifle Jaa’s career growth beyond their shared history with the Ong Bak trilogy and Tom Yum Goong films is a violation of Thai law, if not simply an abuse of power. In a nutshell, Jaa is in better straits these days, while hopefully Sahamongkol will find a way to improve how they treat their performers and clients alike, because headlines like these can’t be good for business.
Furious 7 rolls in Thailand on April 1 prior to its premieres and releases later this week in the U.S. and other territories throughout the month.