Jim and John Thomas suing Disney to reclaim Predator rights

[Immortan Jonesy]

US copyright law should protect Crabators separately, as their own original thing 

[Proteus]

My hope is that at the very least they allow for production to continue with Skulls. It would be heartbreaking to those that dedicated a couple of years to get this going (and bring jobs to many in Canada) only for it to be derailed so suddenly. Whatever happens to anything else in the future happens. But current projects should be allowed to continue.

Man, I just don't feel good about any of this.

[SiL]

The law specifically states that exploitations started before the cutoff are allowed, and I imagine Disney would successfully argue this counts.

It could go the other way but I think that one will go Disney's way.

[Enjoy]

The thomas brothers must have wrote some predator scripts over the pandemic! I wish!

[BigDaddyJohn]

What a mess.

[LSL]

Disney can look at the financial results of the latest films involving Predator and simply give up. The character has not brought any resounding profit, and sometimes even losses, as in the last film. But they will not give up that easily, and that could be the start of a long legal dispute. Apparently we will have a considerable gap from the space hunter, and the movie "Skulls", which was already scheduled to start recording, will be canceled.

[Voodoo Magic]

Disney can look at the financial results of the latest films involving Predator and simply give up. The character has not brought any resounding profit, and sometimes even losses, as in the last film. But they will not give up that easily, and that could be the start of a long legal dispute. Apparently we will have a considerable gap from the space hunter, and the movie "Skulls", which was already scheduled to start recording, will be canceled.

First thing's first. Predator films have all been very profitable long-term. Even if the initial box-office tally of say "The Predator" was 160 million off an 88 million budget and you factor promotional dollars and say hey - that's not very good - these films make revenue year, upon year, upon year with sales and rentals, both consumer and industry. And apparently to directors like Predator 2's Stephen Hopkins, those residual checks they get are pretty good! 

Second, none of us should use definitives like SKULLS "will be canceled". This whole problem might be pushed out to June 2022 or January 2023.

Disney appears to be first and foremost  challenging the validity of the Thomas Brothers  claimed copyright termination date of April 17th 2021.

Now it appears in the lawsuit that the Thomas Bros perhaps are even conceding that date may not hold up, so they included alternative dates in case "in the unlikely event the Court finds the Termination Notice is invalid, Plaintiffs' Second Termination Notice or Third Termination Notice is valid, with effective termination dates of June 14, 2022 or January 13, 2023, respectively." 

So this is something we might not be dealing with as fans until 2022 or 2023 and Skulls, Predator comics, everything will continue this year without any threat of injunction.

[SiL]

The interesting thing is Disney isn't questioning the validity of their claim, rather the validity of their process for enacting it/the timeline they're entitled to.

So even Disney's lawyers seem to concede this will happen - the real question is when.

[TomT]

I think it is worth waiting for several years in order to get a good film that respects the viewer and the franchise, than get another exploitation film, which will cause a ton of hate and fail at the box-office, like its wbroken brothers.

I think it's been decades since the last good film in the franchise. I really think someone should take away both franchises from 20th Century Fox/Disney, they are absolutely incompetent and very very stupid, Fox managed to f up both franchises for decades and Disney's first moves are even worse. They shouldn't be anywhere near both Alien and Predator, someone else should take the reins.

"someone" 

I threw Lionsgate and Paramount as "someone"/alternatives.

[LSL]

@voodoo magic, I hope you're right


If Thomas brothers wins, what they get? Only the bases of the first script? I mean, the visual of the creature and the universe built over the years is also included?

[TomT]

I mean, the visual of the creature and the universe built over the years is also included?

Probably. The writer of the original Friday The 13th won the rights despite the fact that Jason appeared as the villain only in the second one.

[Master]

@voodoo magic, I hope you're right


If Thomas brothers wins, what they get? Only the bases of the first script? I mean, the visual of the creature and the universe built over the years is also included?

They also did wrote Predator 2, when whole design of the creature was well known. I don't know if it counts,  I won't pretend I know the US law.

[molasar]

If Thomas brothers wins, what they get? Only the bases of the first script? I mean, the visual of the creature and the universe built over the years is also included?

It means that no one can rerelease the first film and profit on new products without their say.

They also did wrote Predator 2, when whole design of the creature was well known. I don't know if it counts,  I won't pretend I know the US law.

The difference will be if they were hired to write it or had it already written.

[Voodoo Magic]

If Thomas brothers wins, what they get? Only the bases of the first script? I mean, the visual of the creature and the universe built over the years is also included?

It means that no one can rerelease the first film and profit on new products without their say.

If the Thomas Brothers win, they'll only have 100% rights of future productions, not pre-existing.

- - -

"Under the termination provisions, prior "derivative works" "can continue to be" distributed as before.  17 U.S.C. § 203(b)(1).  Plaintiffs' recovery of the U.S. copyright to their Screenplay therefore does not prevent Defendants (Disney) or their licensees from continuing to exploit prior derivative works, including the original Predator film and TCFFC's five sequel films."

- - -

And let's all note for the canon record, that even the Thomas Brothers considers the AvP films as sequels! 

[Proteus]

If Thomas brothers wins, what they get? Only the bases of the first script? I mean, the visual of the creature and the universe built over the years is also included?

It means that no one can rerelease the first film and profit on new products without their say.

If the Thomas Brothers win, they'll only have 100% rights of future productions, not pre-existing.

- - -

"Under the termination provisions, prior "derivative works" "can continue to be" distributed as before.  17 U.S.C. § 203(b)(1).  Plaintiffs' recovery of the U.S. copyright to their Screenplay therefore does not prevent Defendants (Disney) or their licensees from continuing to exploit prior derivative works, including the original Predator film and TCFFC's five sequel films."

- - -

And let's all note for the canon record, that even the Thomas Brothers considers the AvP films as sequels! 

Meaning Skulls being a future production, which could be halted? Guess we'll all find out soon or come June when it's supposed to shoot.