A brand new legal battle is attempting to determine who actually created the iconic horror villain Ghostface’s mask as hype continues to build for the latest installment in the horror film franchise ‘Scream 7’ which is set to hit theaters on February 27th.
Los Angeles effects company Alterian Ghost Factory is stating that they actually made the mask prior to Fun World during the early 1990s.
According to the Hollywood Reporter: “The rights to the iconic Ghostface mask has sparked a legal battle, with Spyglass and Paramount Pictures suing a Los Angeles-based special effects studio claiming ownership of the droopy-eyed horror visage. In a lawsuit filed on Friday in California federal, the companies say that the Alterian Ghost Factory is threatening copyright infringement litigation ahead of the release of the next installment to the Scream franchise. The suit seeks a court order, which would bar the special effects studio from suing, establishing that it’s on solid legal ground.”
Alterian says – “Fun World had no right to license the mask, saying that it created the underlying design first, which was later copied by Fun World, the suit says.”
Via Spyglass, Paramount stated: “Alterian has never legally established that it owns the rights to the Ghostface mask, and it will not be able to prove it now in this litigation. And seeking to disrupt the release of a completed motion picture mere weeks before its release—the seventh installment of a franchise that Alterian watched grow in silence for three decades—is an outrageous attempt to shake down.”