Fox Files Legal Pursuit Against The Asylum

Posted by dominie in Films, News on November 12th, 2008

It looks like The Asylum’s The Day The Earth Stopped, a spoof of Fox’s upcoming big budget The Day The Earth Stood Still remake starring Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly, is running into some legal problems reports Yahoo! News and Dread Central.

“This week, [Fox] quietly took action against The Asylum, firing off a lengthy cease-and-desist letter and hiring attorneys to go after the prolific purveyor of high-end, low-budget knockoffs of Hollywood blockbusters.”

The article’s summation of The Asylum’s game plan?—“[To] produce a movie with themes similar to an upcoming blockbuster, then borrow a trick from the porn industry and title it something comically derivative, create parallel marketing materials and take advantage of the millions the studios spend to promote their hits.”  The result is hardly a high-end film. The Asylum is the production responsible for the knockoffs Snakes on a Train after new Line’s Snakes on a Plane, Street Racer after Warner Bros.’ Speed Racer, and Transmorphers after DreamWorks’ Transformers. The article proceeds to go into a name game and citation of ancient film title issues from various studios.

“Then there’s the question of whether the new title causes a ‘likelihood of confusion’ in the marketplace or competes unfairly with the original. That’s where marketing materials — especially those featuring nearly identical typefaces and spherical blobs — might raise copyright and trademark eyebrows.”

“The Asylum didn’t return calls to comment on the Fox action. But in its defense, one need only peruse this year’s listings at the American Film Market underway in Los Angeles to see that many low-budget producers craft marketing materials to associate themselves with established studio franchises. The film business is nothing if not derivative.”

It is truly sad I cannot disagree with the report. This years AFM was a disappointment to say the least in regards to originality of content. It was expected since every week we’re covering more and more remakes. To read the full Yahoo! News article, click here.

Originally scheduled for a DVD release on December 16th, just days after the theatrical release of Fox’s The Day the Earth Stood Still on December 12th, the spoof may or may not see the light of day.