50 Cent Loses Battle With Nigerian Novelist Chinua Achebe Over The Title 'Things Fall Apart'

50 Cent's new movie has been forced to back down in a legal battle with representatives of the 80-year-old Nigerian novelist, Chinua Achebe.

The rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, had called his movie Things Fall Apart - the same title as Achebe's most famous novel, which was included on the list of Time magazine's All Time Top 100 Novels. Chinua Achebe continues to write, and is currently professor of Africana Studies at Brown University in Rhode Island.

The movie's producers allegedly offered $1m for the rights to the title. Though Achebe himself has been silent on the issue, Naijan, a Nigerian news website, reports that a spokesman for Achebe's Foundation, which manages his works, informed producers that "the novel with the said title was initially produced in 1958 (that is 17 years before rapper 50 Cent was born), listed as the mostly read book in modern African literature, and won’t be sold for even $1bn.”

According to PopEater (now HuffPost Celebrity), the movie was "written by 50 and [is] loosely based on the life of his childhood best friend. [In the movie] the rapper-turned-actor goes from a dread-locked NFL hopeful to an emaciated cancer victim." The film stars Ray Liotta alongside 50 Cent, and is directed by Mario Van Peebles, who also appears in the movie.

The new title of the movie, which is still listed on the Internet Movie Database as Things Fall Apart, is, according to indieWIRE, All Things Fall Apart.

Hollywood Reporter writes that the movie is currently slated for an early 2012 release.

See below to watch the trailer for the movie:

Comments

[colonelsun68]

07:45 AM on 09/18/2011

Seems to me they both owe a nod of acknowledgement to W.B. Yeats who used the line in his poem "The Second Coming".

[trymriverman]

10:36 AM on 09/17/2011

This supposed disagreement is getting them both a bit of publicity though - now I know about the movie and... where is that Kindle?

[AnaM]

09:53 AM on 09/16/2011

Have to laugh at the ego of rappers.

[fromthaheart]

03:25 AM on 09/17/2011

I don't think he and the other producers were being egotistical because they didn't just use it without permission plus money was offered for it. Besides the title of a work can't be copyrighted only trademarked or servicemarked which that title ISN'T. When people have that copyright symbol posted by their name on Twitter, they believe they're protecting something; its not protecting anything. only works can be copyrighted. Back to the article, I think he should be allowed to use the title for the movie.

[Edward Wilkes]

02:48 AM on 09/15/2011

Book titles are copyright free, so I do not think there is grounds for infringement!

[Matt Lindner]

01:45 AM on 09/15/2011

Um, that's the title of a Roots album also. I wonder how they got away with it.

[nuclearkid]

10:07 PM on 09/14/2011

so who cares, it's just a rapper anyway.

[mose joseph workman]

10:05 PM on 09/14/2011

Things Fall Apart: Sh*t Happens. Same thing.

[mose joseph workman]

10:04 PM on 09/14/2011

got bad news for ya, chinube: you can't copyright titles. fitty could call his movie "Gone with the Wind" and no one could do anything about it. and the reason there aren't more duplicate titles is obvious: confusion.

[Re Wood]

08:12 PM on 09/14/2011

Every writer knows that a title can't be copy-righted. The story and content are protected, but not simply a title.

[AnaM]

09:54 AM on 09/16/2011

Really? Go and say that to J K Rowling, who probably owns an international trademark to all her book titles.

[Re Wood]

07:52 AM on 09/18/2011

Her characters and content are protected, but feel free to check and you'll find out that titles are not protected under copyright laws.

[mikeodd]

06:52 PM on 09/14/2011

I'm sure W.B. Yeats would be amused at Achebe's possessivesness regarding "originality".

[standish]

12:38 AM on 09/15/2011

Excellent point!

[phmcgrath]

06:29 PM on 09/14/2011

Okay call it "Things Go To Pieces", " Things Separate", Things Disconnected"? Oh and maybe naming a title of a movie after a famous book is called "stupid minds fall apart".

[JohnDrake6]

06:13 PM on 09/14/2011

Did he consider "The Center Cannot Hold"? Same vein and get a football double entendre in there at the same time.

[mikeodd]

06:57 PM on 09/14/2011

They come from the same line (3rd) in the same poem actually, William Butler Yeats's "The Second Coming" published in 1920.

[JohnDrake6]

08:50 PM on 09/15/2011

Yeah, I know, that was why I mentioned it. That and the fact that being a movie about a football player allows the phrase to have a double entendre.

Are you with me now? :-)

Pardon the gyrations, but I've gotta be in Bethlehem by midnight.

[Tater Salad]

05:52 PM on 09/14/2011

50 got shot down again.

[Nseobong Nkanta]

04:29 PM on 09/14/2011

ACHEBE HAS MADE NIGERIANS PROUD BY NOT ACCEPTING USELESS LUCRE FOR A PRICELESS WORK. THINGS FALL APART IS A BILLION TIMES MORE VALUABLE THAN THE RANTINGS OF ALL RAPERS OF THIS WORLD. MY MUSIC MASTER USED TO DESCRIBE THIS KIND OF MUSICIANS AS AN ORGANISED GROUP OF NOISEMAKERS AND I BELIEVE THAT THEIR MOVIES WOULD ALSO FIT IN TO THIS MOULD.

[standish]

12:42 AM on 09/15/2011

I personally think almost anything is more valuable than the "rantings of all rapers." You really need to not rely on Spellcheck if you want to make a point. Also, the Caps Lock key thing can really get old.

[jackiwhitford]

03:52 PM on 09/14/2011

Book titles are usually copyright free. I do know that with music it is different. Spike Lee wanted to use the title A Love Supreme (from John Coltrane's four piece movement.) Widow Alice Coltrant told Spike no. The movie was called Mo' Better Blues instead. Also if a movie title is already registered, you have to change yours. James Cameron had already registered Avatar. So M. Night Shyamalan had to drop Avatar from his movie which became The Last Airbender.