Questions have been raised whether the US Department of Justice (DOJ) would seize the rights to a movie remake produced by Red Granite Pictures, a film production company co-founded by Riza Aziz, the stepson of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

This is according to a report by US-based magazine The Hollywood Reporter (THR) published after the June 15 filing of DOJ's forfeiture civil suit in relation to 1MDB.

In its report last Thursday, THR questioned if Red Granite's big-budget remake of 1973 prison-escape movie "Papillon" would face the same fate as "The Wolf of Wall Street", "Dumb and Dumber To" and "Daddy’s Home" that, combined, raked in just below US$805 million worldwide.

With shooting wrapped up in December after several months of filming in Eastern Europe, "Papillon" is now in post-production, the magazine reported.

Red Granite was co-founded by Riza Aziz and American film producer Joey McFarland in 2010.

Effectively, THR said DOJ appeared to now be going after an asset not directly linked to 1MDB funds, but rather something financed by the profits made from its assets.

While the DOJ’s chasing of "The Wolf of Wall Street" may have been eye-opening, its potential seizure of a major film that is still unfinished and still seeking a domestic distributor and release date would surely be another major first, reported THR...