Oscar 2014 Nominations Predictions: Could 'The Butler' Title Controversy Help Its Box Office and Oscar Chances?

With a month until the release of Lee Daniel's new film "The Butler," pundits have begun to wonder whether the title controversy will help the Oscar contender at the box office.

Warner Bros. recently won arbitration over the title of the film, leaving Daniel's movie without a title. However, The Weinstein Company decided to fight back and appealed the decision.

Warner Bros. claimed that it owned the rights to the title from a 1916 short film entitled "The Butler." However, Harvey Weinstein recently told CBS on "The Morning Show" that it was not about the title rights, and instead had to do with "The Hobbit."

"122 times in the history of movies titles have been used and repeated," said Weinstein. He added that Melissa MCCarthy and Sandra Bullock had a movie called "Heat" and that Jason Staham was shooting a movie called "Heat."

Weinstein continued: "I think there is an ulterior motive ... we tried to settle it. It's unjust, this movie is coming out Aug. 16. I was asked by two executives at Warner Bros., that I am happy to testify that if I gave up the rights back to 'The Hobbit' the claims would be dropped. This was used as a bullying tactic. I think this is about something else."      

Pundits believe that Weinstein's fight is a publicity stunt to create more buzz over the film and eventually garner a bigger box office return. However, Weinstein claims that if the title is changed they will have to pull 5,000 trailers from movie theaters, take down the film's website, and get rid of all advertising.

This is not first time a Weinstein Company film has spurred controversy. Last year, the documentary "Bully" received an R rating because of the language in the film. Weinstein immediately appealed the decision and activists started an online petition to get the rating revoked. The company eventually lost and decided to release it as an unrated movie. It ended up making $3 million at the box office and ranked as the 46^th highest grossing documentary of all time.

Another movie that benefitted from controversy was Sony/Columbia's "Zero Dark Thirty." The controversy began months before the film was released in December when it was revealed that director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal had access to CIA documents. However, the controversy later exploded in December when politicians and Oscar voters tried to veto the movie because it portrayed American's torturing prisoners. The scandal ultimately made moviegoers more curious and helped the film make a robust $95 million at the box office. It also garnered five Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture.      

"The Butler" tells the story of Cecil Gaines, a butler who served eight presidents at the White House from 1952 to 1986, and had a unique front-row seat as political and racial history was made.

The movie has already received awards buzz and is predicted garner various Oscar nominations. The movie boasts a remarkable cast that includes Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Lenny Kravitz, Vanessa Redgrave, John Cusack, Robin Williams, Live Scrieber, Melissa Leo, James Marsden, Alan Rickman, David Oyelowo Mariah Carey, Jane Fonda, Terrence Howard, Cuba Cooding Jr. and Alex Pettyfer.