More Hollywood dirty tricks?

That's what the creator of the quiz show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" will be claiming in federal court as a $270 million lawsuit against Disney gets started started today in Riverside. Caleador claims that the Mouse House, which owns ABC, hid millions in profits through an accounting scheme. From The Wrap:

The deal with Disney saw Celador, which licenses the show in over 100 countries, receive an Executive Producer fee for each episode - which became a weekly fee when the show went into syndication - and backend profits derived from Buena Vista. However, the money from Buena Vista Television, which is owned by Disney, was calculated after production costs and other expenses. Celador claims Disney deflated what ABC should have paid Buena Vista, thus cutting directly into Celador's take. Additionally, Celador says, Buena Vista and Valleycrest's production costs and deductions were so unexpectedly high that the big backend Celador anticipated actually ended up in the red.

Disney denies violating the original deal with Celador. Both sides have lengthy lists of witnesses, according to THR, with Celador expected to call Executive Producer Michael Davies, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, and former NBC head Ben Silverman; and Disney expected to call current CEO Robert Iger, Davies and Silverman.