[En Sabah Nerd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by merqabah

didnt the actors who played in marvel and star wars signed away likeness rights as part of the contract? i tought thats why lucas became a billionare vecause he bought the likeness rights for everyone in th emovie

I don't think so, I mean the most marketable characters are all alien or helmeted/no-face. Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Stormtroopers all wear helmets. Yoda, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C3-P0 are all alien/droid so no single person holds the likeness rights. All of those characters are just part of the franchise and don't need any actor to grant permission to use their face, that's where Lucas made money from toy marketing. Even then Hasbro can make toys for Han Solo, Luke, Leia, etc. because licensing rights were granted for the characters as part of the franchise.
I guess my point is that having licensing rights is more important to making toys aimed at kids than likeness rights for actually making them look more like the respective actors.