MOVIE NEWS – With Scream 7 almost here, Ghostface’s mask has become the headline for all the wrong reasons. A Los Angeles effects studio is threatening a copyright lawsuit, and the producers are trying to shut that down before it starts. For this franchise, the sharpest weapon right now is paperwork.
With the slasher series Scream gearing up for its seventh entry later this month, Ghostface’s mask is suddenly the center of attention. Los Angeles effects house Alterian Ghost Factory, known for animatronic builds and prosthetic makeup work, is threatening a copyright infringement suit against Spyglass and Paramount Pictures as Scream 7 heads toward its February 27 release. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the producers – Spyglass and Paramount Pictures – filed in California federal court on Friday, asking for a declaratory order that would prevent Alterian from suing and confirm the studios are on firm legal footing. The twist is that Ghostface’s look is said to trace back to a producer spotting the mask inside a Northern California home being considered as a filming location. The team then licensed the design from Fun World, the costume company that’s been selling the mask since the early 1990s. Alterian’s lawyers contend, however, that Fun World never had the authority to grant that license because Alterian created the underlying design first.
Emphasizing that the mask has been licensed for every installment of the decades-old franchise, the producers’ complaint argues:
“Alterian intentionally slept on its purported rights in the iconic ‘Ghostface’ mask used throughout the Scream franchise for thirty years.”
Paramount further maintains the real dispute is between Fun World and Alterian, and that if Alterian was aware of any problem with Fun World’s licensing rights, its failure to act amounts to surrendering any claim to Ghostface ownership. The filing also points to a 2020 decision holding that Alterian founder and CEO Tony Gardner is time-barred because he knew about Fun World’s licensing as early as 1996 and no later than 2003. In an email, Alterian attorney Brian Wheeler said the company still plans to sue, adding, “We will be filing our complaint later today, which speaks for itself.”
As Scream 7 readies a marketing push, the studios say this legal fight is the last thing they need. From the defendants’ perspective, the timing also reads as more than a little convenient. As the complaint puts it:
“Alterian has never legally established that it owns the rights to the Ghostface mask, and it will not be able to prove it now in this litigation, and seeking to disrupt the release of a completed motion picture mere weeks before its release – the seventh installment of a franchise that Alterian watched grow in silence for three decades – is an outrageous attempt to shake down.”
Forrás: MovieWeb
