Tony Robbins and Fox Sued Over 'Man's Search for Meaning' Movie Rights

Tony Robbins, Fox Entertainment and several film producers are facing a federal lawsuit accusing them of pushing a longtime collaborator out of a planned movie adaptation of Viktor Frankl's bestselling Holocaust memoir, "Man's Search for Meaning."

Producer Marisa Polvino alleges that her former partners diverted the film's rights and development assets to another company after securing a $300,000 financing agreement with Fox-owned MarVista Entertainment. The complaint, filed Sunday, October 25, 2026, in California federal court, accuses the defendants of fraud and breach of contract and seeks to restore her interests in the project.

Polvino claims she spent years developing the adaptation with producer Kate Cohen and Anthony "Tony" Robbins before their relationship deteriorated. According to the lawsuit, Polvino and Cohen secured the rights to adapt Frankl's book from his estate in 2016 through their production company, OLF Productions.

Frankl's 1946 book recounts his experiences in Nazi concentration camps and examines the search for meaning amid suffering. The work has sold more than 16 million copies worldwide, making the planned adaptation a commercially significant project.

The dispute escalated after OLF entered a financing agreement with MarVista in 2024. The deal allegedly provided $300,000 for development, shared approval over key creative decisions and a share of future profits. Polvino claims Cohen subsequently redirected project funds, development materials and negotiations concerning the underlying adaptation rights to another company.

The complaint also describes an alleged $500,000 embezzlement involving a separate business previously owned by Polvino and Cohen. According to Polvino, Cohen told representatives of MarVista and Fox that Polvino had agreed to surrender her rights and compensation in the film as part of an arrangement connected to that dispute. Polvino denies authorizing the transfer.

As the original adaptation rights expired in 2024, Robbins allegedly acquired the rights through a separate arrangement, excluding Polvino and OLF from further development. The lawsuit claims screenplay work, writer agreements and other elements of the production continued under a different company.

Rights to adapt a book are distinct from the contracts, screenplays and other development materials created while a film is being prepared. Polvino argues that her contractual and financial interests survived the expiration of the original adaptation agreement and that her former partners improperly retained the benefit of work she helped finance and develop.

MarVista and Fox allegedly continued participating in the project despite knowing about the competing claims to its assets. Polvino contends that they later relied on the transfer of those assets to accuse OLF of breaching its financing agreement, allowing them to pursue arrangements with Robbins without her involvement.

Polvino is asking the court to restore her interests in the film, protect the development materials associated with OLF Productions and award damages for the alleged financial losses. She also seeks relief intended to restore OLF's role in the project and hold the defendants responsible for their alleged participation in the disputed transfers.