Lucasfilm wins court fight with horror B-movie makers over star’s ‘resurrection’ in Rogue One

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world

Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email

Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email

A 1970s B-movie company have lost a £250,000 court fight with the makers of Star Wars over horror legend Peter Cushing’s special effects “resurrection” in Rogue One.

Mr Cushing OBE, who died of cancer in 1994 aged 81, became a national treasure due to numerous appearances in Hammer horror films between the 1950s and 1970s.

He also made an appearance in the first Star Wars film in 1977 as Grand Moff Tarkin, the imperial officer in charge of the Death Star.

His role as that character was later “recreated” over 20 years after his death by “resurrecting” him using special effects for 2016’s $1 billion-grossing Star Wars spin-off Rogue One.

But LucasFilm Ltd and Lunak Heavy Industries (UK) Ltd, the Disney-owned makers of Rogue One, were later sued over claims by a British film company that it had rights over the horror star being brought back to life on screen by technology after his death.

London-based Tyburn Film productions Ltd, a rival to Hammer which produced a series of low-budget horror flicks in the 1970s, said it signed a contract with Mr Cushing in 1993 – a year before his death – which gave it the right “without limitation” to give or withhold consent for his image “being reproduced by…special effects techniques”.

open image in gallery

The character was originally played by Peter Cushing

The company, whose directors are USA-based executive John Golder and British-based accountant Bernard Thomas, sued the two Disney-owned companies claiming damages for “unjust enrichment” at its expense.

The company valued its losses at over £250,000 but the Disney companies disputed the claim and argued that they hold the rights to the images they used in Mr Cushing’s 2016 SFX “resurrection” because they came from the original 1977 Star Wars movie.

After a four years fight the horror film company has now had its claim struck out, after Lady Carr the Lady Chief Justice, Britain’s most senior judge, ruled that Tyburn did not lose out through Mr Cushing’s image being used in Rogue One.

The court heard that Tyburn launched its claim in 2021, with the Disney companies then battling through a series of court hearings over the next four years in a bid to get the B-movie makers’ claim struck out.

But they struggled after two different judges said the issues were too complex and a full trial would be needed.

At a hearing in 2022 barrister for Lucasfilm, and Lunak, Jonathan Hill explained to Judge Francesca Kaye in the High Court that Tyburn signed a contract with Mr Cushing in 1993 “in relation to the intended appearance by Mr Cushing in a television movie, provisionally entitled a Heritage of Horror” which was never made.

open image in gallery

Peter Cushing also starred in several Hammer horror films and played Doctor Who during his career (PA) (PA Archive)

Part of that contract “had sought to make provision for the fact that at the time…Mr Cushing was terminally ill and so there was doubt as to how or whether he might be able to contribute to the TV movie”.

The clause gave Tyburn the right to veto Mr Cushing’s SFX image being reproduced in the event of the planned TV movie not being made, Tyburn said, suing the two Disney companies for “unjust enrichment”.

The court heard the executors of Mr Cushing’s estate recorded that the estate received £28,500 after tax for giving permission to Disney for the horror icon’s image to be used.

Tom Moody-Stuart KC, for Tyburn, told the judge: “My clients were given a contractual right to be the first to use or the right to withhold consent for Mr Cushing’s performance rights being reproduced by technological means.

“Either a direct benefit has been taken from us or an indirect one.

“Lucasfilm needed two consents for it to be fair – one from the estate and one from Tyburn.”

open image in gallery

A trailer from ‘Rogue One’ (Lucasfilm/ILM)

However defending the claim, Mr Hill told the judge that the consent of the estate, whilst obtained, was not necessary because the images used to produce the SFX Peter Cushing had come from the original Star Wars film.

“Mr Cushing did authorise Star Wars Productions to make copies of recordings of his performance,” he said.

“The rights in relation to those copies are therefore vested in Star Wars Productions.”

In the making of Rogue One, the Disney companies “have evidently worked from their copies of recordings of Mr Cushing’s performances,” he added.

He said the Disney companies did not need any permission from Tyburn since it already had permission under its agreement with Mr Cushing for his appearance in Star Wars in 1977, adding: “Even if there was an enrichment, it was not at Tyburn’s expense”.

Lady Carr giving her judgement today agreed, saying that although Tyburn submitted that the Disney companies were directly enriched at their expense, there was no legal basis for this as it was impossible to identify anything that belonged to Tyburn which was transferred to Disney.

She added that the rights which the estate granted to the Disney companies in the 2016 Agreement were not the same as those granted to Tyburn by Mr Cushing under the 2016 agreement.

Lady Carr, sitting with Sir Colin Birss and Lord Justice Zacarol said:

“When Tyburn discovered that Lucasfilm was embarked upon making Rogue One and intended to recreate Mr Cushing in the role of Grand Moff Tarkin, it wrote to Lucasfilm, claiming that it was not permitted to do so without Tyburn’s consent. Tyburn contended in that letter that it had incurred a substantial loss as a result of Lucasfilm’s actions/intended actions.

“The losses were said to comprise approximately £250,000 expended on the TVM together with consequential damages for deprivation of the commercial benefit of being “first out of the gate” with a film starring Mr Cushing after his death.

“It sought to reach an accommodation with Lucasfilm. No such accommodation was reached. Rogue One was completed and went on to be a major commercial success.

“We are required to assume, for the purposes of this appeal, that Tyburn will be able to establish at trial that the appellants were, by reason of the 2016 agreement, enriched, that the enrichment was unjust and that there are no defences available to them.

“The sole issue, therefore, is whether the appellants were enriched at the expense of Tyburn.

“Wherever the line is to be drawn, Tyburn’s claim is clearly on the wrong side of it.

“Accordingly, we allow this appeal and strike out Tyburn’s claim against the appellants,” the judge concluded.