Raimi is suing Award Pictures to halt production of Evil Dead: Consequences. His lawsuit claims that the trademark has been used for merchandising, video games, and comic books. It also states that Award's planned film is intended to cause confusion to consumers and that the key plot elements and character names would inevitably infringe Renaissance's copyright rights in The Evil Dead.
I'm no lawyer but this seems like a pretty straight-forward case to me. I am confident that Raimi and Renaissance will maintain their copyright on The Evil Dead. The most interesting thing about this lawsuit is that it claims Awards Pictures' film is "interfering with Raimi's plan to make his own sequel for Sony Pictures and FilmDistrict." Of course, this could just be bluffing to maintain their trademark but, hey, what if? Maybe he still has a plan up his sleeve!
Personally, I'd rather Raimi never make a fourth Evil Dead film than see some third party make some half-assed direct-to-DVD crap. What do you think? Are you eager for any new Evil Dead, or is it a per-requisite that Raimi & Campbell be involved?
