You’ve probably heard by now that a federal judge decided last week that Time Warner is no longer the sole proprietor of Superman. The court has ruled that the heirs of Jerome Siegel (of Siegel and Shuster) are entitled to a share of the US copyright to the character. The quick backstory goes like this: Siegel and Shuster sold the rights to Superman 70 years ago to Detective Comics for only $130. DC Comics has since given the creators each a $20,000-per-year annuity (later increased to $30,000). But then in 1997, Mrs. Siegel and her daughter served copyright termination notices which permits heirs to be able to recover rights to creations in certain situations (part of the 1976 Mickey Mouse copyright act). Compensation would be limited to any work created using the Superman character after their 1999 termination date.
And this gets a little more interesting because the Siegels don’t own copyright to the entire Superman universe, or to even the character of Superman, at least as you know him today. They only control the elements of the character/universe that were portrayed in Action Comics #1. Superman was really an early concept at that time and most of his powers, friends, enemies premiered in later editions. But Action Comics #1 contained mainly the following: the Superman name, the trademarked costume, Superman’s alter-ego Clark Kent and the character of Lois Lane are.
All is not over just yet. Warner Bros will appeal the court’s decision. But I honestly don’t see anyway the decision will be overturned.
So what does this mean for the movies? Well first off, Warner Bros probably owes the Siegel heirs a good chunk of change for Superman Returns. But the bigger news is that this might put both the Bryan Singer-helmed Superman sequel The Man of Steel and the already troubled Justice League of America in jeopardy. With the relatives of Siegel now officially part-owners of the character, who knows what the future may look like. It’s also possible that in 2013 the entire Superman copyright will be yanked out of Warner Bros’ hands completely, as Joe Shuster’s estate takes the other half.
source: NYTimes
March 31st, 2008 at 1:40 am
Well it’s good for creators and heirs and estates, but this could suck for fans.
Even though Superman Returns stunk for me, I looked forward to at least a reboot in a few years. Now, who knows if we’ll ever get another movie with Superman in it? And really, how much of the DC universe is NOT connected to Superman in some way? How do they rip him out without disturbing everything else?
March 31st, 2008 at 2:41 am
You know who would be an awesome Superman?
Jon Hamm from Mad Men.
March 31st, 2008 at 3:06 am
They should lease Action Comics Number 1 Superman to Marvel just to piss DC off.
March 31st, 2008 at 7:06 am
If Superman Returns was Batman Begins, then we would probably be looking at a sequel by next year, instead of all this indecision.
Many of the cool stuff about Sup-Returns is the stuff that dooms it. We really didn’t need a sequel to Superman 2. It was great seeing the opening credits and hearing the music, but while the film was decent, it wasn’t that fulfilling. Plus the liberties taken with the characters were ridiculous, and didn’t match up with the Christopher Reeve films. Brandon Routh did an ok Chris Reeve impression, but didn’t bring anything else to the character. His take on Superman/Clark Kent, was dull and lifeless. After the first half hour the effect of his impersonation of the Best Superman ever, wears thin. All in all he really didn’t bring anything else to the character except, looking vaugely like a young Christopher Reeve, and doing a passable imitation of the late actoir’s voice.
Brian Singer should have done X3 and called it a day.
March 31st, 2008 at 7:32 am
They should use their leverage as share holders to demand that supes named be changed to “Jesus”. You know, something Spanish.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:48 am
I really hope we get 2 see the next singer/routh movie. Its gonna be epic.
March 31st, 2008 at 1:11 pm
As much as I hate the idea of loosing Superman, the idea of having Singer direct another disaster like Returns is even more sickening.
Reboot the franchise, get Tom Welling and for once think of the fans before messing with something like Superman.
Petition for Tom Welling to be Superman
http://www.petitiononline.com/TW4SinJL/petition.html
March 31st, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I just started a peition to stop online petitions.
March 31st, 2008 at 8:42 pm
I’d like to sign Captain’s petition. Also, I don’t know how we’d “loose” superman. I think Cece mean “lose”
March 31st, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Superman Returns was turd soup. So, yay for lawsuits that kill off retarded franchises. But a Marvel Superman would be weird.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:06 am
[quote]Also, I don’t know how we’d “loose†superman. I think Cece mean “loseâ€[/quote]
Oups, thanks for catching that Mando!!
Apologies if you’re not fans of the petitions and you might be right, they accomplish nothing. But sometimes they do, Jericho was brought back for a season, so who knows…. wish us luck…
Petition for Tom Welling to be Superman
http://www.petitiononline.com/TW4SinJL/petition.html
May 5th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
It would really suck if the Siegels took total control over the Superman charcter. He is so much a part of the DC Universe. Even Batman is related to him in a way. DC wanted a superhero to follow Superman’s success and called upon Bob Kane to come up with a charcter that would match Superman. Bob Kane created The Batman. Hopefully Bob Kane’s relatives will not follow suit in trying to steal Batman away from the fans.