The Messy World of Movie Rights: From Nightmare on Elm Street to Marvel's Hulk

From ComicBook.com, When asked directly about the prospects of a new Nightmare on Elm Street project during a lightning round of questions about New Line titles, President and Chief Content Officer of New Line Cinema Richard Brener offered a brief but revealing response: “We hope so. It’s complicated because of the rights.

The battle is over domestic distribution rights, which Wes Craven's estate owns, while New Line Cinema owns the international distribution rights.

Farther down in the piece, the reporter, Marco Vito Oddo, mentions the situation with the Friday the 13th franchise, in which the original screenwriter and director/producer each own a share.

I immediately thought about Marvel and Universal, which have a complicated rights deal with the Hulk character. Universal has the distribution rights, so Marvel cannot release a solo Hulk movie without Universal's involvement. And it appears the two sides can't come to an agreement that satisfies both parties.

At least with the Marvel situation, they're able to use the Hulk character in other movies. But Freddy and Jason are not appearing anywhere, so no one is making any money from the characters.

That's what I never really understand when I read about these rights issues – how not agreeing on something benefits anyone. I know nothing about Hollywood negotiating or the details of the rights issues, but it seems as though holding onto the rights so nothing can be done isn't the way to make money or movies.