Did Fox need permission for the 'Spider-Pig' parody in The Simpsons Movie?
In The Simpsons Movie, there's a scene where Homer makes a pig walk on the ceiling while singing a parody of the Spider-Man theme.
The tune matches the original Spider-Man TV show theme almost exactly.
The Spider-Pig theme was later sold as part of The Simpsons Movie Soundtrack and can be purchased standalone through iTunes.
Did Fox need to get permission to use the Spider-Man theme, or does it count as parody?
Best Answer
Due to the nature of music related copyright laws, its anyone's guess. What we do know is that copyright exceptions allow for satire (using or changing a copyrighted work to make a statement on society) which this is not, and parody (using or changing a work to make a statement about the work), which this also is not. Aside from Fair Use exceptions, there is compulsory licenses for music. Since the lyrics were not significantly changed, a compulsory license would be valid. But the soundtrack release was a longer composition which could be considered to have changed the lyrics significantly, allowing a compulsory license to be pulled. Hence, Fox would have had to license the work from the owners and/or composers.
Considering this is a major production that would want to avoid any lawsuits or complications, they likely did license it even if they wouldn't need to. Fair use and compulsory licensing is essentially decided in court. Because they rather pay a negotiated license in order to avoid the prolonged, expensive court case to maybe decide in their favor.
Note the credits state:
SPIDER PIG
Based on the Spiderman Theme
Written by Bob Harris and Paul Webster
Parody lyrics written by James L. Brooks,
Matt Groening, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-
Graham, George Meyer, David Mirkin,
Mike Reiss, Mike Scully, Matt Selman,
David Silverman, John Swartzwelder and
Jon Vitti
Attributed to the original writers.
Pictures about "Did Fox need permission for the 'Spider-Pig' parody in The Simpsons Movie?"
Did The Simpsons invent Spider-Pig?
Spider-Pig is the song that Homer first sings when he made Plopper walk on the ceiling like Spider-Man. This gag was added at the last minute. Film composer Hans Zimmer wrote a choral version of the song originally as a joke, but one of the producers heard it and asked him why it wasn't in the movie.Is The Simpsons copyright?
Consider the TV show The Simpsons. Copyright protects each episode as an audiovisual work, each script as a literary work, and each character drawing as a picture. Fox owns the rights to these and anyone else needs permission to copy, distribute, and perform them - or to create a derivative work from them.What superhero inspired name did Homer Simpson give to his pet pig in The Simpsons movie?
Although Marge Simpson wanted Homer to get rid of the pig because of a prophetic vision about a "twisted tail" received by the seemingly senile Abraham Simpson, Homer kept the pig and named him Spider-Pig, a play on the superhero Spider-Man.Who wrote Spider-Pig Simpsons?
Spider-PigSingers:Chorus Dan CastellanetaWriter(s):Original lyrics: Bob Harris and Paul Webster Parody lyrics: James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, George Myer, David Mirkin, Mike Reiss, Mike Scully, Matt Selman, David Silverman, John Swartzwelder and Jon Vitti Music: Hans Zimmer3 more rows•Mar 13, 2022Pete Hegseth: This is the question every Democrat must answer
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