Revolution Studios and Sony are set to shoot Zoom as planned in Toronto despite recent legal action by 20th Century Fox and Marvel Enterprises.

The superhero spoof starring Tim Allen came under fire last month when Fox and Marvel filed a copyright infringement suit in New York, alleging that Zoom bears too close a resemblance to their X-Men property and calling for an immediate halt to production.

The complaint notes that both movies involve mutant school-age crime-fighters, an underground training facility and a government conspiracy, and that Zoom is slated for release in May 2006, two weeks before the next X-Men instalment. X3 is in prep at Vancouver Film Studios.

And yet the shoot is expected to start as scheduled on July 6 at Cinespace Film Studios.

‘Everything has proceeded business as usual here,’ says Jim Mirkopoulos, the studio’s VP of facility management. ‘I read about [the lawsuit] in the media, but that’s the only thing I’ve heard about it.’

Zoom seems not to have ‘missed a beat,’ says business agent Mimi Wolch of the Toronto local of IATSE. ‘Usually when something drastic like this happens the company puts everyone on halt… but there doesn’t seem to be a change of pace.’

The comedy – one of the bigger Hollywood shoots in Toronto this summer – is scheduled to shoot until late September. It will be in theaters on May 12, shortly ahead of X3 on May 26.

Fox and Marvel claim that Zoom is riding the marketing coattails of the X-Men. Zoom was set for August 2006, but moved to May shortly after X3 announced its release date.

‘Zoom’s release in May 2006 immediately before the release of X3… is an unfair attempt by Sony and Revolution to manipulate the market and trade off the time, energy resources and effort Marvel have invested in X-Men,’ reads the complaint.

Revolution and Sony have not commented publicly on the suit. But in a June 10 letter, quoted in court documents, Revolution exec Daniel Ferleger argued that the X-Men partners were trying ‘to monopolize… broad general concepts that have been widely used by others.’