Making this film cost Columbia Pictures the opportunity to make one of the most successful films of the 1980s. Just as the film was set to go into production, Columbia executives learned that the film could not be made unless they got the authorization of Universal. The legal department determined that "Big Trouble" was a remake of
Double Indemnity (1944), which the latter studio owned. Universal's then-current head was Frank Price, who formerly ran Columbia. He was willing to give Columbia the remake rights to "Double Indemnity" under one condition - they would give Universal the rights to a sci-fi script that had caught his fancy at Columbia that the current management was sitting on. The trade was successful. Columbia was able to make "Big Trouble," which bombed, while the sci-fi film they passed on to Universal,
Back to the Future (1985), was a great success.
