A potentially hopeful sigh of relief for cinema purists arose today as Paramount Pictures has said “Not so fast” to the just announcement sequel to the iconic 1946 holiday classic It’s Wonderful Life. Variety first broke the story on Monday that Star Partners and Hummingbird Productions were moving forward on a sequel to the James Stewart and Donna Reed holiday perennial in a new film entitled It’s a Wonderful Life: The Rest of the Story. The proposed sequel would revolve around a similar story involving the original George Bailey’s unlikeable grandson. However, it appears that no one let Paramount, the owner of the original film’s copyright, know about it first.
A spokesman for the studio commented, “No project relating to It’s a Wonderful Life can proceed without a license from Paramount. To date, these individuals have not obtained any of the necessary rights, and we would take all appropriate steps to protect those rights.” The original film was released by the now-defunct RKO Studios in 1946, but Paramount has since acquired the rights to the 1939 original story The Greatest Gift upon which the Frank Capra film is based.
Would-be producer Bob Farnsworth has since commented that Star Partners and Hummingbird Productions, the independent studios behind the sequel, have gone to some lengths to ensure that they are not violating any copyrights. Without a doubt, there will be more developments on this story in the near future, and we will keep you up to date on the latest news.
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