Board Thread:Mortal Kombat X/@comment-1084762-20150514043427/@comment-809585-20150518130842

Dragonspyne wrote: Riley Heligo wrote: Actually, I recall Ed Boon saying that they had to make an original face design for Freddy due to legal issues surrouding Jackie and Englund's faces in a video game and he was uncertain whether or not they were allowed to anyway, typically an actor has to give permission for their likeness to be used in a video game. I think it's a little weird that they may not have the rights to the faces. In an entertainment contract, likeness is released to the studio and Warner Brothers should've had the rights to use both Englund and Jackie's faces. I suppose it could be different when looking at movie to video game transfers.

It's not that weird when you think about it, movies and video games are different forms of entertainment, using someone's face for a character in an adaption, say a video game like Freddy. If the developers wanted to use the actor's face they'd have to at least get them to agree to it, it's mostly based on legal boundaries.

Englund and Jackie's contracts probably only had their appearance for the movies and other things like cross overs like the good ol' Freddy vs Jason vs Ash, I remember Englund allowing them to use his face for the comic as he's a fairly big fan of crossovers (or something to that degree), chances are Warner Brothers wanted NRS to do an original Freddy facial design seeing as Ed mentioned they didn't have a Freddy in mind and his uncertainty around them being allowed to use their face. It's a complicated process with using a face, Hoxton from Payday's another good example; Overkill Software weren't allowed to use Richard Blom's face for Hoxton due to 'copyright issues' which was a major reason for him ending up in jail storyline wise.