Box Office Bombs, Maddow Apocalypse, Apple’s Golden Ticket

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon guide to what’s new at Puck.

Today, we lead with Eriq Gardner’s fascinating and timely look at Hollywood’s highly insidery, wildly arcane legal time bomb that could strip Marvel’s most lucrative I.P. and potentially cost Disney billions. (So how come nobody’s talking about it?)

Plus, below the fold, Matt Belloni reveals what’s next for the Murdochs and teases the possibility of a massive upset in the live sports bidding wars. Jon Kelly swings by the set of The Powers That Be to discuss MSNBC’s vexing inactivity to plug its Maddow-sized hole in prime time. And finally, we’re excited to announce that we’ve hired Tara Palmeri, the former co-author of Politico’s Playbook, as a senior political correspondent. Every week, Tara will cover the intersection of Capitol Hill, K Street, the West Wing, and the media companies that cover them all. We’re calling it The Washington Mall, and you can add it to your newsletter subscription right here.

Hollywood’s Marvel-Disney Horror Story

Fifty years ago, Washington created a legal time bomb that allows the creators behind everything from Robocop and Beetlejuice to The Avengers multiverse to terminate their copyright grants and renegotiate. Welcome to the I.P. apocalypse.

I have a horror story to share. It’s about The Thing, and the shapeshifting monster that promises to devour much of Hollywood. Studios are now bracing for mass casualties. But there’s more to this bloody story. 

This tale begins in the 1970s, when federal lawmakers added decades to the lifespan of copyrights. Sounds straightforward, but there was a twist. It was also decided that authors of copyrighted works (and their heirs) should enjoy the newly lengthened term rather than publishers and studios. Why? Congress knew that many creatives possess little bargaining power early in their careers and they often assign rights for very little. The idea was to give them a second bite at the apple. These creators would have to wait a while (35 years for works created after 1978; 56 years for older works), but once the ticking clock hits the mark, these individuals can terminate copyright grants and reclaim ownership...

FOUR STORIES WE'RE TALKING ABOUT