Is it legal to animate an already copyrighted film?

Question

I want to make an SFM (Source Film Maker: An animation studio for videos Valve creates) animation for the full movie of my choice. I'm wondering if this would be legal especially since I definitely will give all credit for the movie to the people who actually created it. I'd only give myself credit to the time it took for me to animate the film.

Answer 1

Unless you have the "film rights" for the "full movie" of your choice, it would be completely illegal to make and distribute any such derivative work. Alternatively, you could get the rights to each copyrighted element: the story, the characters, the sounds (voices, music, sound effects), and any images you intend to mimic.



"Giving credit" is not a license. You can still be sued for copyright infringement and they would use "the credits" as proof that you knew it was copyrighted and you intentionally violated the copyrights anyway, thus increasing the amount of damages they can demand. 17 USC § 504 Statutory damages of up to $150,000 for willful infringement.



If you were to attempt to sell a copy, that would also be a federal felony. 18 USC § 2319.