There’s a new Incredible Hulk movie out, and of course, there was an Incredible Hulk movie a few years ago. I assume that IH is a trademark of Marvel Comics. So I assume that both production companies (or screenwriters, or producers, or who anyway?) had to get permission from Marvel to make a movie about their character. But can anybody make a movie about IH as long as they get permission from Marvel, completely ignoring the prior movie company (assuming no plagiarism was involved)?
Similarly, more than one production company has made James Bond films, and the same might be true of Batman.
So if I want to make a Superman movie, as long as I get DC’s permission, I don’t have to worry about any prior moviemakers?
What about cases where characters aren’t trademarked? Could I make a movie about a famous but untrademarked character without getting anybody’s permission at all?
If you get permission from the trademark holder, you can do whatever you want in the movie. Certainly the new Batman is not a continuity from the Adam West version.
Heck, the Catwoman movie bore scant resemblance to the character.
If there’s no trademark, there are still potential copyright issues. The new film could be considered a derivitive work of the original, and thus need permission. There would be no cut-and-dried answer, though – but getting permission beforehand is the best course.
It depends on the type of contract signed. Let’s say that you, CookingWithGas, have a super kickass story that I think would make a great movie. I’m gonna give your agent a holler and say “Hey, I’m gonna give your client big bucks by buying the rights!”
But I don’t want any other grubby film producer with the same brilliant idea to step in on my action. So I’m going to negotiate exclusive rights that will last X number of years. For example, the Sci-Fi channel owns the American film rights to Ursula K. Leguin’s Earthsea series. Japanese film director Goro Miyazaki (son of the famous Miyazaki) was able to secure the rights for a project in Japan, but that movie (“Gedo Senki”) can’t be released in America until the Sci-Fi channel’s rights expire in 2009.
For Superman, I wish you lotsa luck with that, because DC comics is owned by Time Warner, who are generally in the habit of making their own movies. But if you sweeten the pot enough (in this case, it would probably have to be more money than you would ever conceivably make back on the project), then you might convince them to sign over the rights for a very limited time.
Like Chuck said, you gotta think about copyright, too. If there’s no trademark and no copyright, though, you can make a movie (or musical or opera or television series or computer game or anything else) without anybody else’s permission. But so can everybody else. I just read on wiki that there are, apparently, three competing versions of Jack London’s Call of the Wild being produced. So that might mean that any potential box-office windfall will have to be split three ways. Not good news to hear in such a tough industry.
All the cases mentioned in the OP involved movie production companies negotiating with the rights holder to get permission to make the movies.
Permissions are usually given in the form of options, which are for a limited period of time. Options almost always give you exclusive rights. (They’re pretty much worthless, otherwise.) If the movie is not made, or the option expires, the rights holder can work with a different set of producers on a new options and rights. That’s why so many different companies can do the same character over a period of time.
Right can be sold off in different ways as well. The rights to Casino Royale were first sold to a television production company for a 1954 version of the book. Later, a comic movie was made. Because the rights for that one book were sold off separately, the people making the mainstream series of James Bond movies couldn’t touch Casino Royale, even though they had the otherwise exclusive rights to use the character in every other movie.
Even if the character is not specifically trademarked, you’re going to run into copyright violations by using sufficient recognizable references to the character to make people know that it’s that character and not one of the same, but coincidental name.
So the answer to the question in the OP is no. As long as somebody has the option to a character, nobody else will be able to do a movie based on that character.