Is Star Wars facing justice? This sci-fi saga movie could be sued

After the tumultuous fate of The Acolyte series (cancelled after a short season and very low audiences, which suffered violent and unjustified attacks from the more toxic part of the fandom), the Star Wars saga is still a mess. In terms of cinema and this time at the legal level.

The producer of several horror films from the 70s and 80s, as well as a TV documentary about his friend Peter Cushing (this information will be important in a few seconds), Kevin Francis has started a lawsuit against the intergalactic franchise George Lucas.

More precisely against Rogue One, its first spin-off, which hit theaters in December 2016.

According to him, Peter Cushing would never have consented to his image being used in a film after his death in 1994. However, Rogue One, with the support of the latest special effects, changed the face of some guy. Henry recreates Grand Moff Tarkin’s translator, allowing his return in the Episode IV prequel.

Resurrection, which at the time already raised ethical questions, was put back on the table with Star Wars Episode IX, The Flash or the recent alien Romulus, which respectively resurrected the dead Carrie Fisher, Christopher Reeve and Ian Holm. In the case of the latter, by family agreement, which, according to Kevin Francis, would not have been the case for Peter Cushing.

The Times Fact reports that the producer had an agreement with the English actor regarding the reuse of his image and that he would not agree to be reborn as in Rogue One. Problem: The nature of the agreement in question remains unclear, as it may have been informal if it actually existed.

Accused, along with Lucasfilm, the Associated International management agency that represented Peter Cushing before his death, and his (now defunct) cast, Disney claims that the actor’s contract did not require prior authorization to recreate his image.

and that an agreement had been reached with his agent in the amount of approximately $36,000 to make this operation possible.

Trial and precedent?

So the studio is trying to throw out the pending lawsuit, claiming that Kevin Francis is just trying to enrich himself, eight years after the Gareth Edwards feature film was released, by paying more than $650,000 in damages.

Held by the producer, the UK’s High Court of Justice still accepted that the case should be settled, even if Judge Tom Mitcheson said he was not optimistic about Disney’s defeat.

But who knows, this case won’t set a precedent and strengthen jurisdiction over the use of actors’ and actresses’ images, while the use of artificial intelligence poses a growing threat to Hollywood?