They tried it but, as we all know, Klingon males are animals, and they ravished her right on the set. They had to burn the footage and bury the whole disgusting disaster.
Well, it’s only honest, but lacks the tact (or rather self-preservation instinct) of a husband who’s asked “Does this dress make me look fat?”
I heard that one of the primary reasons Disney is doing all these ‘unnecessary’ remakes of their classic films is to build legal foundations whereby they can argue in court that they’re entitled to extend the copyrights instead of letting the works go into public domain. I have no idea if this is true or not, but I heard it from a lawyer who deals with patents for a certain global pharmaceutical company. I understand copyrights and intellectual property is a pretty arcane subdivision of the law and I’m not entirely convinced they knew what they were talking about. I’d be curious to hear what our resident legal eagles think about the notion.
That would help explain why they’ve brought back so many near-forgotten characters in their Disney Jr. TV programming. (E.g. the Good Fairies from Sleeping Beauty in Sofia the First.)
IANAL, but I’m not sure how that would work. The story of Snow White was already in the public domain when Walt made his animated version. Making a new version shouldn’t affect the copyright of the original one way or the other, no more than all the cartoons featuring Mickey Mouse Disney made after Steamboat Willie prevented the original from entering the public domain this year.
My understanding is how it comes down to certain elements being depicted on screen. For example, Frank Baum wrote the Oz stories in the late 19th century, but MGM still has copyrights on certain things like the ruby slippers, which didn’t actually appear in the written stories.
Speaking of Mickey Mouse copyrights, I am dying to see what happens when (not if) the first case goes into court where Disney sues someone for portraying Mickey Mouse on screen without their express permission. They’ve had YEARS to prepare for this too.
That makes sense but then if you’re going to the trouble to do it, you may as well do a good job.
Universal Studios does not own the classic monsters. It does own the make up and costume designs. This is why they look different in films such as Monster Squad. That film actually asked Universal for permission. It was not given
That makes a certain amount of sense, but I can’t imagine it would be that effective. Like, they couldn’t just stick one of the songs from the original into the remake, and claim that the song’s copyright is extended.
Well, they could claim that, of course, and make someone fight them in court, hoping that despite being clearly in the wrong, Disney’s deep pockets mean they can outlast any court challenge just by throwing money at the case until the other side runs out. They might be doing this to make the legal issue around the copyright sufficiently murky that they can drag out any litigation over it as long as they want.
Dark Horse Comics, Robocop and Terminator
DHC bought the rights to make comics of those properties. DHC published many comic series. Then, they had the natural idea to make a Robocop Vs Terminator mini series. The studios that owned Robocop and Terminator wanted to license a video game based on that mini series. But first, they needed permission from Dark Horse. Although the studios owned Robocop and Terminator, Dark Horse owned the concept of ‘Robocop Vs Terminator’.
I know this is true because I read it in an editorial from the head of Dark Horse years ago. Trademark and copyright law can be really weird.
Disney is famous for being super litigious. Like they won’t hesitate to go after the Podunk Community Theater company for singing “Hi ho hi ho it’s off to work we go” in a production that makes no other mention of anything even remotely Disney related. They actually pay people to scour the internet and hunt down anything that smells like it might be copyright infringement. Then once they find them, they immediately issue a cease and desist and will go full court press into litigation if they don’t hear back from their target.
The budget for Snow White is $269 million so far, plus some $100 million in marketing plus some additional post-production expenses between now and March.
No one is going to spend this kind of money for legal foundations…
If Disney sues, we’ll claim fair use, hi ho, hi ho!
(Hat tip: The Simpsons)
2 More
“Fox Kids” was the name of the original programming that aired Saturday mornings on the kids’ block of shows on Fox affiliates. “Fox Kids” was actually owned and produced by an arm of Warner Brothers. “Fox Kids” included a truly excellent Tick cartoon. That cartoon included some new characters OTTOMH Sewer Urchin, Die Fleidermaus and American Maid. Those characters were not owned by the people behind the original Tick comic books, nor the people at Fox. They were owned by Warner Brothers. That is why new characters were created for the Tick live action primetime show.
Muppet Babies
It was a magnificent cartoon. It included footage, characters and concepts from loads of other intelectual properties. That happened because Jim Henson would personally go to studio executives and ask permission. He was so charming, nice and enthusiastic that everybody always said yes. He never bothered to have formal contracts drawn up. Jim Henson died, DVD’s and streaming were invented. Muppet Babies, despite continued popularity and consumer demand will never be made available in either way. It uses things that it technically does not have legal permission to use.
Poor Disney. Damned no matter which way they went. Real Small People? Okay, great they would get some work, but Dinklage and others would complain. Just regular actors? Purists would complain. CGI dwarves- more complaints.
I think Disney should have have just put the idea on a shelf for a while.
“I’m better looking than her,” proclaimed the wrinkly tangerine shit-gibbon.
Uh-oh! Now we’ve gone and pissed off the evil queen.
Nearly here and arriving with a whimper
Rotten Tomatoes has a 48% positive ratings from reviewers:
It opens in theaters on March 21.
This kinda sums it up for me:
