John Travolta Responds to Rumors of 'Gotti' Release Being Scrapped

John Travolta is hitting back at early reports regarding the status of his John Gotti biopic, Gotti.

Lionsgate sold Gotti back to the production company according to reports on Tuesday (December 5), leading some reports to suggest that the movie’s release was scrapped.

“Unfortunately, the reports were speculation bordering on fake news. Lionsgate was planning on a minimal release, and I did an investigation into people who might have the interest and financial wherewithal to better release it. [Producer] Ed [Walson] is a fan of mine and of the Gotti story and really wanted to see the movie. I invited his group, they saw it and bought it. That is the simple explanation for this,” John explained in a statement to Deadline on Wednesday (December 6).

“It wasn’t easy to get Lionsgate to give it up. They said no, twice, and I literally begged them to reconsider and they finally and generously let it go. We signed this deal about three weeks ago, to purchase back the film from Lionsgate. Our mistake was we should have said something right then and discussed our plan for the film. We didn’t anticipate this speculation that is so grossly wrong.”