When people make parody movies, do they need to get permission from the movies they are making fun of?

Question by Trix_R_not_4_kids: When people make parody movies, do they need to get permission from the movies they are making fun of?
Al Yancovich said in an interview that he always gets permission from an artist before making a parody of their song. So, when people make movies like Meet the Spartans, does the same process take place? Do they need to get permission from the original movie creators to parody their movie?

Best answer:

Answer by billsnickr
The short answer is yes. Weird Al takes a person’s entire song (lyrics and music) and only tweeks the lyrics so he needs their permission (which he normally gets because it generates interest in the song he’s parodying).

Movies are very similiar. If you depect a character from another movie you need permission from whoever owns that character (be it director, studio etc).

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