Warner Bros. Smarter Than The Average Studio? Won't Fight Yogi Bear Parody

from the well-that's-nice dept

We recently pointed to an amusingly dark parody ending to the new Yogi Bear movie, which was getting a lot of attention -- and wondered how Warner Bros. would react to it. Warner Bros. General Counsel has been upfront in the past, saying that they try not to shut down "fan art" unless it really goes over the line, but the company's actions don't always live up to that. In this case, however, the good news is that Warner Bros. has said that it won't fight the parody video and will let it live on. It just asked the artist to put a specific disclaimer on the video (which he did). The studio did ask YouTube if it could put an age limit on the video, because it was afraid of kids seeing Yogi get shot... but that didn't happen and WB still seems okay with. So, kudos to Warner Bros. for not overreacting. It's sad that it still needs to be highlighted when some of these firms don't overreact, but hopefully it means they're learning.

Filed Under: copyright, fair use, parody, yogi bear
Companies: warner bros.

Yogi Bear Alternative Ending Creates A 'Squiffy' Fair Use Question

from the not-your-average-parody dept

A bunch of folks have been sending in this viral video of an "alternate ending" to the new Yogi Bear movie. It's what you might call a... much "darker" ending, based on the The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Don't watch this if you don't like bear-on-bear violence. What struck me, frankly, is the somewhat amazing quality of the work, which was done by a single guy, Edmund Earle, who had the idea for the parody after seeing the trailer for the Yogi Bear film right after having watched The Assssination of.... The Wall Street Journal scored an interview with Earle, where he admits that he's on "squiffy" legal ground, though he's not using any actual footage from the movie but created the work himself, and believes he's done so entirely as a parody. What will be interesting is how Warner Bros. reacts to this. It seems like it should be protected fair use, of course, but Hollywood isn't always known for being supporters of fair use.

Filed Under: copyright, fair use, parody, yogi bear
Companies: warner bros.