The hit movie franchise Barbershop is getting ready to premiere its third installation in the series with Barbershop: The Next Cut. But if it’s up to one New York playwright, it will not open as scheduled. Writer, director and actor Ronald Dickerson, also known as JD Lawrence, wrote a play titled Scissors that toured various cities from 1998 to 2001. His play is strikingly similar to the Barbershop movies. Both feature a Black barbershop full of characters, most notably the elderly barber “Eddie” played by ‘Cedric the Entertainer’. Dickerson’s play also touches on heated barbershop conversations about politics, O.J. Simpson and race just like the Barbershop movies.
Barbershop: The Next Cut opens on Friday, April 15 and stars Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Eve and Nicki Minaj. It is the latest in a series of films about a Black-owned Chicago barbershop and its employees. The movie takes on issues of inner-city life such as gangs, unemployment, and the shuttering of Black institutions in the changing environment. Most notably the new movie will confront the issues of gun violence on the streets of Chicago.
The $20 million lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, names as defendants Time Warner Inc, Warner Brothers Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc and Showtime Networks Inc. In addition to filing the lawsuit, Lawrence is also asking a judge to issue an injunction to stop the release of the movie this Friday. Such a move could cost the studio and producers several million dollar in box-office revenue. The studio has spent a considerable amount of time and money to promote the new film that is expected to attract a devoted following as well as new fans of the series and stars. The studio has not issued a comment on the lawsuit.
