FILE – Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Michael Oher sits on the beach during the first half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in Baltimore, Sunday, Oct. 24, 2010. Michael Oher, the former NFL tackle known for the movie “The Blind Side,” filed a petition Monday in a Tennessee probate court accusing Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy of lying to him by having him sign papers making them his conservators rather than his adoptive parents nearly two decades ago.(AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)
(NewsNation) — NFL lineman Michael Oher, featured in the best-selling book “The Blind Side,” accuses the family who took him in of hoarding profits from the awarded-winning film adaption; however, the book’s author refutes this claim as untrue.
Despite the film’s success, no one involved in the book received millions of dollars from the movie, author Michael Lewis told The Washington Post in an interview.
“Everybody should be mad at the Hollywood studio system,” Lewis told The Washington Post. “Michael Oher should join the writers strike. It’s outrageous how Hollywood accounting works, but the money is not in the Tuohys’ pockets.”
Oher filed a jaw-dropping petition in the courts alleging he unknowingly authorized Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy to be his conservators in 2004 … when he thought they were adopting him.
The conservatorship allowed the Tuohy family to handle Oher’s “business affairs” — including signing off on the rights to “The Blind Side.”
The Tuohys claim they legally could not adopt Oher, as he was over the age of 18 when he came into their family and that their only option was a conservatorship if Oher wanted to play for Ole Miss.
According to the legal filing, the movie paid the Tuohys and their two biological children $225,000 each, plus 2.5% of the film’s “defined net proceeds” while Oher “gave away” his life rights to 20th Century Fox Studios.
As for making money off “The Blind Side,” Sean Tuohy told the Daily Memphian: “We didn’t make any money off the movie. Well, Michael Lewis (the author of the book ‘The Blind Side’) gave us half of his share. Everybody in the family got an equal share, including Michael. It was about $14,000, each.”
But Sean Tuohy told a different story when he was interviewed by Barstool Sports, admitting he made “60 or 70 grand” over the years from the movie residuals, money Oher claims he’s never received.
Lewis claims Twentieth Century Fox, as it was then known, paid $250,000 for the option to make “The Blind Side” a movie, which he split 50-50 with the Tuohy family, The Washington Post reports. Lewis said his half was around $70,000, after taxes and agent fees.
Yet, Fox never made the movie. Instead, the small production company Alcon, which is backed by the Touy’s neighbor, FexEx CEO Fred Smith, stepped in.
Lewis said actors were offered a share of the movie’s profits instead of large salaries. He claims his deal provided him a share of the movie’s net profits, too.
Warner Bros. distributed the movie.
Lewis told The Washington Post after agent fees and taxes, he and the Tuohys received around $350,000 each in movie profits.
He also said the Tuohys planned to share the royalties among the family members, including Oher, but Oher began declining his royalty checks.
Lewis said he believed the family deposited Oher’s share in a trust fund for Oher’s son.
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