One of the most prevailing things in the media world today is producing content that tells a story. It’s what makes companies like Hollywood so popular; through the power to tell a story that means something, they can create an infinite amount of content. However, in recent days, more of this content has decided to be connected somehow or another. So the question has to be asked: can it be possible for every media property to be linked?
First, you have to look at what exactly is a media property. According to LawInsider.com, media property means “motion pictures, television programs, internet programs and websites, other audiovisual works, and any other similar property embodying words, ideas, concepts, images or sound.” A media property can include things like Disney movies, DC’s epic heroes or any story told by a writer. They are all the property of a media company.
With the power of Hollywood, thousands of media properties have been created. However, in that creation, it started to create scenes and instances where sometimes, media properties can pop up in others.
For example, the movie “Frozen,” starring Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel, featured a cameo from characters Rapunzel and Eugene “Flynn Rider” Fitzherbert of the “Tangled” movie. You’d probably blink and miss the cameo, but it happened.
This is a naturally occurring theme in Disney movies: specific characters or instances appear in the other’s works. However, this is Disney. They have the rights, or the copyright, to all the characters they own.
But in some rare cases, multiple media characters from different franchises can be in each other’s media properties. Sometimes, they can even have a prominent role.
One example of this is the game series “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.” For the last twenty-plus years, the game has featured franchise media properties from all sorts of games, from “Mario” to “Pac-Man.” Just recently, they added Sora from “Kingdom Hearts” in a shocking reveal.
To let Sora play, series creator Masahiro Sakurai had to make a deal with the Walt Disney corporation and allow them to use Sora’s copyright in the game. This is how they made deals for all of the guest characters; they had to form deals with the owner companies to allow them to use the rights to these characters. Sometimes, they would even have to pay a profit to the copyright holders just so they can use said character.
However, in the case of a media property, there is another factor you have to consider if multiple companies decide to cross over: sense. You cannot just throw properties together willy–nilly; there has to be some kind of logic.
For example, the movie “Wreck-It Ralph” features many different video game characters and companies like Sonic, Bowser, Ken Masters and M. Bison from “Street Fighter” and the Ghost Monsters from the “Pac-Man” game series.
These cameos all could appear together in the same world because it would make sense for video game characters to appear in video game worlds. Disney did have to pay a fine to use all of the cameos the movie had, but it all did make some sense. These are video game characters, so they should appear in a video game world.
So, referring back to the question of whether companies can connect media properties, the answer is a yes, but not without some kind of cost. Disney allows characters to cameo in each other’s movies for free or less of a profit. On the other hand, Nintendo probably had to pay hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars just to use characters like Sora or Joker. Everything has a cost to use, and that includes media properties.
