Lucasfilm puts the kibosh on screening of twisted 'Star Wars'

Link: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/theater/192350_lucasfilm.html?searchpagefrom=1&searchdiff=1

These guys should not charge for the movie event, but accept donations to protest stringent copyright control that doesn't allow such uses as these. Parody can be a bitch.

The long arm of director George Lucas' legal team has reached out and put a lightsaber at the throat of a local non-profit theater group.

Theater and sci-fi buffs hoping to catch Jet City Improv's send-up of "Star Wars" on Thursday were disappointed when the troupe told them that Lucasfilm Ltd. threatened legal action if it spoofed "Star Wars" that night. Or ever.

Unless Jet City intended to go to court against a major film company, the group couldn't screen a redubbed version of the movie.

[...]

"In order to protect our copyright, anyone who plans to commercially exhibit our films has to go through the appropriate channels," said Lucasfilm spokeswoman Lynne Hale.

The proper channels include either contacting Fox Distribution or Lucasfilm's legal department.

Christensen said Jet City consulted an entertainment attorney who told it that Lucasfilm has a reputation for saying "no" to most requests.

Indeed, Hale said that, typically, when the film company is in the middle of a marketing push -- such as last week's release of the "Star Wars" trilogy DVDs, they tend to deny most screening requests.

[...]

The main issue seems to be this: That Jet City charges $10 a head for the show. If the show were free, there's a chance that the legal department of Lucasfilm would not have responded. After all, the anonymous fellow who created "The Phantom Edit" (a version of "Star Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom Menace" sans Jar Jar Binks) never really got in trouble with Lucasfilm.

"It wasn't commercially exhibited -- they weren't doing it for profit," said Hale.

[...]