![]() ![]() ![]() It's one thing for a small outfit to knock-off a major Disney production, but when Gaiam Vivendi is doing it, the stakes go up. At the Vivendi website, you'll see a long list of titles in their video catalog - everything from Discovery productions to Veggie Tales. There's no mention anywhere of "Chop Kick Panda" or any other movie outside of personal wellness media.īut Gaiam also purchased Vivendi Entertainment from Universal Music Group in 2012. Their web-page is devoted to Yoga and natural health solutions. Gaiam is best known as a producer of fitness and wellness videos and products. In 2005 GoodTimes Entertainment filed for bankruptcy and was bought up by Gaiam. The knock-off business is getting bigger, obviously. Zombies - which, to be fair, was pretty much inevitable: There's also adult "mockbusters" - films that bear an uncanny resemblance in both plot and design to major action movies, like Battle: Los Angeles.Īctually, The Asylum, the production company behind the knock-off, ended up changing the name to Attack Los Angeles, which sounds more like an order than a movie title, but you get the point. It's not just kids' movies that get the knock-off treatment. GoodTimes Entertainment was acquired by Gaiam in 2005. These days, browsing through Netflix, it's difficult to find any company information at all - just blurbs reminding us that the stories aren't what they appear to be. The previous year, Cederbaum had sided with Disney on a similar suit, this time aimed at a GoodTimes knock-off of "Beauty and the Beast." Cederbaum did not penalize Good Times Entertainment financially, however, instead requiring the company to display its name prominently on their packaging, which they did. ![]() In other words, unless each Disney film was packaged in a very specific way and that style was copied by GoodTimes Entertainment, Disney didn't have enough proof to build its case. Judge Miriam Goldman Cederbaum ruled against Disney, arguing that a resemblance simply wasn't enough unless all of Disney's own packaging was distinctly uniform. Good Times Entertainment had released its own versions of "Aladdin" and "Beauty and the Beast" among other popular Disney films. Indeed, that line has grown murkier since 1993, when Disney lost a lawsuit claiming that Good Times Entertainment had been packaging its videos - this time specifically its version of "Aladdin" - to resemble Disney's own films, and that this caused confusion among consumers. "Chop Kick Panda" is another Gaiam film, this time bearing an uncanny resemblance to DreamWorks hit "Kung Fu Panda."Īccording to Fritz, its creators wanted to call it "Tae Kwon Do Panda" but the Gaiam legal department changed it to "Chop Kick Panda." Apparently there is a line that can be crossed, though it's not quite so clear as one would think. This is one of those industries where your entire business model is built on "lower-budget alternatives." You have to at once avoid a lawsuit and blatantly advertise that you're ripping someone else's work off. Naturally, we have an admission/disclaimer in the blurb: Turns out, "Tappy Toes" is just a "lower-budget alternative to Happy Feet." Gaiam, (NASDAQ: GAIA) is one of the larger players in the drafting industry, responsible for such gems as "Tappy Toes." Bet you can't guess which blockbuster they're drafting from. "As people have migrated to these new platforms, it has been a great opportunity for us," Sam Toles, vice president of content and acquisitions for Gaiam Entertainment, told the LA Times. "Movies like Renegade's "draft" off of major studios' multimillion-dollar marketing campaigns for similarly titled films."Īccording to Fritz, it's largely thanks to Netflix and Redbox that we're seeing a drafting comeback. "The animated knockoff is what's known in the film industry as a drafting opportunity,'" says Ben Fritz of the LA Times. When Renegade Animation "drafted" DreamWorks' Puss in Boots, they spent less than $1 million compared to the $130 million it took to produce and market the DreamWorks original. This is what's called "drafting" in the film industry.
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