La Ron S. Readus
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BRIGHTBURN v Superman: Dawn of Infringement (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2019-03-11 17:00:03 +0000 UTC
Yes, Readers. I have seen the trailers to BrightBurn
Yes, Readers. I am super psyched for BrightBurn.
Yes, Readers. I too am wondering why Sony hadn’t gotten a big ol’ cease and desist letter from either Warner Brothers or DC Comics for BrightBurn
In case you didn’t know, Sony pictures released a trailer back in December for a superhero horror movie called BrightBurn.
/It stars Elizabeth Banks in which her character and her husband find a baby boy in a device after crash-landing and raising him as their own, only to discover as he grew up that he had a very wide range of powers and that he could use them to enact some personal justice on those that are doing him wrong/
And when this trailer dropped, a lot of us who were hype for the film -- and a lot of us who weren’t -- pretty much went
Oh. Oh, so this is an Evil Superman movie
In before “Wasn’t that Man of Steel, lololol.” Congratulations; you had your one clever thought for the day. I hope you’re still coherent enough to remember to breathe and take a shit after using all that brainpower
Like I said earlier, there are a lot of similarities to the origin and powerset between modern day Superman and the antagonist of BrightBurn
And while Warner Brothers and DC Comics still have all the licensing rights and trademarks for a lot of the symbolism we establish with the character today, such as the S shield and the art design commonly associated with his name
Superman the character isn’t due to be released in the public domain for everyone to freely use for another 10 or so years. And even then, it’ll be the Golden Age version of the character without the flight and heat vision that the antagonist of BrightBurn shares with the modern day version.
So then, the question remains: How come Warner Brothers or DC Comics haven’t done anything about it yet? Well, in order to figure that out, we have to talk about the one time DC actually DID.
Shazam; I-I’m...I’m talking about Shazam.
You see, before DC Comics bought at-the-time Captain Marvel and his associated characters in 1994, DC sued Fawcett Comics -- the comic company that originally published the golden age Shazam stories -- back in 1941
DC initially won that lawsuit mostly because of testimonials saying that they were instructed to read Superman stories and copy certain elements from them, along with telling artists to make costumes, background art and style similar to that of DC’s Superman books
/My buddy Scott over on NerdSync did a video on this case a few years ago -- including the time Fawcett almost got away with the lawsuit because Superman was unintentionally made public domain figure at the time. You can click the link on the upper right hand corner if you wanna check it out./ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzZIQJMYKc8
Now this lawsuit happened BEFORE Warner Brothers bought DC Comics
/Who more recently handled a messy dispute regarding the rights to Superman and Young Superman Superboy lawsuits with the families of his creators Jerome Siegel and Joseph Shuster/
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/judge-confirms-warner-bros-owns-430323
*mid sigh* And don’t even get me started on Smallville
I say all this to say that despite how everything worked out in DC’s favor regarding the Superman-Shazam lawsuit in the 40’s, and taking into consideration the families of the creators making a deal with Warner Brothers so that they can still use the character nowadays
The WB kinda has a good idea how difficult it would be to claim copyright violations at this point in the game, unless there’s someone on the other side with inside knowledge that what BrightBurn is doing is actually a legit ripoff
Because if THAT was the case, then they would’ve went after Akira Toriyama’s ass for Goku YEARS AGO!
Plus, we also have to consider the following:
- The producer of the movie is James Gunn, who is now writing and directing the soft reboot to DC Films and Warner Brothers’ Suicide Squad. Until something official comes out, assuming that the two reached an agreement regarding Sony releasing this isn’t a farfetched idea
- Warner and DC allowing this movie to exist could actually be a GOOD thing for them, giving free publicity and a revitalized interest in Superman
- Given all the hot water Disney is currently in regarding the FIRING of James Gunn and what they personally went through with the Siegel and Shuster estates, them suing Sony for this could potentially be a PR NIGHTMARE
So yes, Readers; there are PLENTY of possibilities as to why DC and Warner Brothers haven’t done anything about keeping BrightBurn from being a thing...despite nothing - including the ones I listed - being verified so far
And let’s just face it; unless it becomes a scandal or some shit, I highly doubt that’ll EVER become public knowledge
Part of me WANTS to believe that it’s because they know it could be good publicity for Superman later down the line, mostly because it falls under my stance on “don’t punish people for wanting to do shit just because you’re insecure enough to think they’ll be able to do said shit better than you,” which is why I’m an advocate for this film in the first place
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuGH5lPiouI
Now I’m not saying that BrightBurn is getting in the game for the purpose of showing Warner Brothers and DC that they can make a better Superman movie than they can. They already did that with Megamind
All I’m saying is that if the reason why they’re not legally pursuing Brightburn’s destruction is because they feel it’s not necessary
If there is no evidence whatsoever that Brightburn is violating any copyright laws and Warner Brothers isn’t suing them because they legit have the confidence to know that what Sony’s doing won’t impact them negatively, then they kinda earned a +5 to respect from me
And regardless of if it is the true reason or not, that should still be a good principle for us to follow when it comes to whatever it is that we’re doing.
Unless Rodney down the street is legit copying you and his plagiarism is keeping you from handling your business, don’t sweat the small stuff and carry on with your day.
If anything, the antics of Rodney is only gonna help you out later on down the line
But knowing my luck, it’s probably because they went, “fuck it; we’re tired of dealing with Superman lawsuits.”
I mean, I get it, but...the first reason is so much more impressive
