Big bucks sought in suit over 'Big Fat Greek Wedding' flick.

ANOTHER big fat lawsuit has been filed over the most successful independent movie of all time.

A shell company formed to create tax shelters for producers and investors of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" has sued for tens of millions of dollars in unpaid profits related to the 2002 release, which cost $5 million to make and grossed $600 million in worldwide revenues.

"There were tax shelters that were used to help finance portions of motion picture budgets for motion pictures that were produced in Canada," said Scott Niemeyer, chief operating officer of Gold Circle Films, an affiliate of the suit's defendant, Big Wedding LLC. "They were Canadian tax shelters--hence it drove a lot of production into Canada in those years."

He declined to comment on the allegations of the suit, which was filed in L.A. Superior Court.

According to court papers, many of the financial statements between 2002 and 2004 were sent a year late and were deemed "inadequate" because they did not calculate profits based on adjusted net receipts.

Under the contract, the shell company, referred to as VC HMBW Inc., was to "start out by getting a percentage of a production budget, then get a certain fee based on adjusted net receipts," said Jeff Rifler, a partner at Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro LLP, who represents the shell. "After that, the money was 10 percent of net receipts and then an annual fee, too. It's a complicated formula."

He estimates that the shell is owed "tens of millions of dollars."

The suit is one of several filed against producers of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." In January 2003, the former manager for Nia Vardalos, who starred in the movie, claimed that she reneged on a verbal agreement to pay him 15 percent of her compensation from the movie.

In July 2003, MPH Entertainment Inc. sued the producers, who include Tom Hanks' Playtone Co., for $20.6 million in lost profits.