Hollywood Docket: Do Emotions From Animated Characters Drive Ticket Buying?
BY ERIQ GARDNER | HollywoodReporter.Com Troy Warren for CNT A roundup of legal developments in Hollywood including the intellectual property case now turning on the opinions of an expert in human-computer interaction. Today’s edition of you’ll-never-guess-what-they’re-discussing-in-court: Do realistic human emotions from computer-generated characters make a material contribution to the financial success of a blockbuster movie? The question comes up because a Silicon Valley tech company called Rearden LLC is suing Disney for using “stolen” technology for CG characters in blockbuster movies including Avengers, Beauty and the Beast and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. This long-running intellectual property case has had some serious twists…