Play 2 billion+! Here comes the movie of the same name in Escape from the British Museum.

Special feature of 1905 film network "I have a hunch that there will be TV dramas and movies on this theme soon, hoping to ensure quality and quantity, and don’t shoot bad films!"In early September, a netizen was in a popular short play.Escape from the British MuseumThe comment area of the behind-the-scenes interview video predicts this. Soon after, the prophecy came true.

According to the notice issued by the National Film Bureau on September 15th and October 13th, respectively, about the filing and publicity of the national movie scripts (synopsis) in August, two animated films with the same theme, Escape from the British Museum and Escape from the British Museum, passed the filing that month.

In this regard, some netizens said that "if you want to do it, you should do it well, rather than lacking it", and some viewers questioned whether the filming was "with the consent of the original author". After 1905 Film Network communicated with Xia Xiao, one of the main creators of short plays, the other party said that the team had not authorized any company to create film projects at present.

Is the creation of animated film with the same name infringing?

Short plays, big feelings. This is the mainstream impression of netizens on the short play Escape from the British Museum.

The two main creators of the play are very young. Summer sister was born in 1997, and pancake fruit is a "00" generation. In an interview with the People’s Daily, Xia Sister said that the script was completely original, and pancake Guo Zi frankly saw "when a blogger introduced the information of the British Museum" and thought of shooting works with related themes.

About the original idea of the film, one of the most popular sayings at present is that it originated from a brain hole of netizens. At that time, a netizen put forward the idea of making an animated film named Escape from the British Museum with anthropomorphic techniques.

"The two newly-established Escape films are all animated films, and two Escape films appear one after another in a short period of time. Although the possibility of being angry is not ruled out, we must first make it clear that creativity is not protected by copyright law, and’ cultural relics escape’ belongs to the creative level, while the short film Escape is protected by copyright law."

"If the two cartoons did not animate the story of the short film" Escape "without authorization, but told a brand-new story, from this perspective, it did not infringe the copyright of the short film" Escape "and would not be banned from shooting." In an interview with 1905 Film Network, the film producers Sa Zhilei, such as Peach Blossom in the Ten Miles of III and Ziwuyu: Wandering at Night, shared their views. He believes that telling a brand-new story is the fundamental reason for the establishment of two animated films with the same theme.

From the synopsis of Escape from the British Museum and Escape from the British Museum’s story, we can see that both stories revolve around the escape of China cultural relics from the British Museum. The difference is that the latter increases the setting of ten dreams for "people who cultivate the moon".

"The object of copyright protection is a work in the legal sense. The name of a short play is not a work, and the story outline is a concept, which is not enough to be called a work. Therefore, the name and story outline of a short play are not protected by copyright; However, the high attention of popular short plays has potential commercial value and has the attribute of commodities. At this time, if the same or similar names are used to take advantage of the popularity of popular plays, it may constitute unfair competition and violate the Unfair Competition Law. " When interviewed by 1905 Film Network, Wang Yahui, a lawyer from Beijing Lanshang Law Firm, gave his own views.

At the same time, Wang Yahui also shared his views on the difference between reference and plagiarism in the content creation of film and television dramas. He believes that if the film and television dramas are similar only in subject matter and conception, but not in content, and they are all original, it can only be said that the latter draws lessons from the former and does not constitute infringement; If the content is highly similar, it is equivalent to the latter plagiarizing or adapting the former, which may infringe the copyright of the previous work.

At present, Escape from the British Museum has opened an official account on social platforms. On September 15th, the day the film was put on record, its official account also issued a message saying that "we can finally go home fair and square". Up to now, Escape from the British Museum Animation Film Project has not opened any official account of social platform.

According to the industrial and commercial registration information, the reporter called the filing companies of two animated films respectively. Among them, the phone of Manen (Shenzhen) Film Co., Ltd. was not answered, and the staff of Beijing Chaole Unlimited Culture Communication Co., Ltd. said that it was not convenient to disclose the relevant information of the project for the time being.

According to Enterprise Search APP, the major shareholder of Beijing Chaole Unlimited Culture Communication Co., Ltd. is Ying Da, a well-known mainland actor and director. The company is registered for the record, and the Escape from the British Museum market, which is written by Moon Man director Zhang Chiyu, has a relatively high degree of attention.

IP film and television drama creation wins at the starting line

The short play Escape from the British Museum’s coming out of the circle is due to the favorable weather and conditions. In the early stage of the play’s release, it just happened to catch up with the British Museum’s exposure that more than 2,000 pieces of cultural relics were lost. Of the more than 8 million cultural relics in the museum, about 23,000 are from China.

It is not uncommon for this kind of film and television companies to develop film projects with similar themes based on hot events or public IP. Among the works released by the National Film Bureau that passed the national film script (synopsis) filing and project publicity in August, there are other "face-bumping" projects. For example, The Story of a Lonely Studio in Luo Cha, which was registered by Beijing Light Film Industry, and The Mirage of Luo Cha, which was made by Guang Zhouta Xiu Animation, are all based on the public IP Strange Tales of a Lonely Studio.

For this kind of film and television drama adapted from public IP, Wang Yahui said that "public IP is similar to public resources shared by the whole people, which is not within the scope of copyright protection or has exceeded the protection period, so there is no need for authorization. Since it belongs to public resources, everyone has the right to use it, and it does not constitute infringement on each other".

Coco, who has ten years’ experience in publicizing Chinese and foreign cinema films, bluntly said that the film and television dramas adapted from popular IP have certain public cognitive advantages. In addition, there are relatively many promotional materials for these works, and the commercial value of cross-industry cooperation is usually higher than that of non-IP works.

"We can regard IP as a brand image with a certain popularity, and this image is supported by data. For various types of investments, including movies, certain data support is needed, which is the natural advantage of IP. " Sa Zhilei admits that IP with its own attention and traffic will also reduce communication costs when communicating with employers. According to statistics, as of October 17th, the number of the short play Escape from the British Museum and Tik Tok has reached 2.156 billion, and the number of Weibo topics has reached 877 million, with 127 hot searches on the list.

In addition, from the perspective of employers, project risk is an important evaluation factor when they decide whether to invest or not. IP works, on the other hand, have passed certain market verification at some levels (literature, animation, etc.), with higher awareness and a certain number of potential consumers, so the market risk is relatively low.

"From the perspective of spreading China’s traditional culture, it will be a blessing for everyone if we can make the’ cultural relics go home, the dream of rejuvenating the country’ deeply rooted in people’s hearts through film and television works, and let more people feel empathy for the loss and return of national treasures." Sa Zhilei hopes that if possible, the animation "Escape" and the main creator of the short film "Escape" can jointly develop this idea. The creation of this kind of theme film and television drama also has positive social significance.

(Coco is a pseudonym at the request of the interviewer)