The Weinstein Co. has lost the first round of battle with Lionsgate for distribution rights to the acclaimed indie film ‘Precious.’

‘Precious’ was the hit of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, taking away the People’s Choice award. It also won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for best drama at the Sundance Film Festival last January. And there is much Academy Award buzz surrounding the Oprah sanctioned movie about an African American teenaged girl who has been twice impregnated by her own father. It stars newcomer Gabourey Sidibe in the title role and Mariah Carey as a social worker. 

Harvey and Robert Weinstein claimed in a lawsuit against the film’s producers, Smokewood Entertainment Group, that they already had a verbal agreement with the film’s sales agent when Lionsgate stepped in with a better offer. However, The Los Angeles Times says federal Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald has dismissed the suit. There are three others pending.

Emails between the parties were used in evidence, and Buchwald wrote in her ruling that to interpret them as proof of a formal deal, is to “strain credulity.” She noted that no written contract between Smokewood and the Weinsteins was ever drawn up. “A signed writing is required to effectuate a transfer of copyright ownership,” Buchwald wrote.

The box office potential of ‘Precious,’ which opens November 6, is enormous, thanks in part to Oprah’s endorsement, as well as that of filmmaker Tyler Perry.

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