History Main / AshcanCopy

* SamRaimi and friends had ''Within the Woods'', a short film that was a prototype of ''The Franchise/EvilDead'' made to convince his townsfolk to finance the project.

* While most prevalent in comics, other entertainment fields have done similar things, including the 1994 ''Film/TheFantasticFour'' movie. The flick was made on the cheap, and never intended for wide-release. The studio was given a certain number of years to make the film, and would lose the rights if no film was produced. By the term of the contract, they had to make a film. No one specified it had to be a good one. Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coayT3aUn8k
* ''The Franchise/EvilDead'' has the short film Within the Woods, a cut down prototype of ''The Franchise/EvilDead'' made to convince filmmakers to finance the project.

* ''The EvilDead'' has the short film Within the Woods, a cut down prototype of ''The EvilDead'' made to convince filmmakers to finance the project.

A term that originated from TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks. There was a big rush to copyright as many characters and titles as possible, but the actual production time of a comic book made it a bit problematic when days or even hours mattered. The solution? Create a simple mock comic, often just a cover and some unrelated filler made up of garbage sheets, and submit it to the copyright office. The term itself comes from the fact that these comics weren't ever actually made to be distributed, often just going straight to the ashcan (period vernacular for trashcan) once they did their job.

!!Examples of titles that had their origin in Ashcan situations:

* While most prevalent in comics, other entertainment fields have done similar things, including the infamous 1994 ''Film/TheFantasticFour'' movie. The flick was made on the cheap, and never intended for wide-release. The studio was given a certain number of years to make the film, and would lose the rights if no film was produced. By the term of the contract, they had to make a film. No one specified it had to be a good one. Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coayT3aUn8k

* The 1966 adaptation of ''TheHobbit'' was this. Producer Bill Snyder bought the rights to make a film from J.R.R. Tolkien's estate on the cheap, and just before it was set to expire the popularity of Tolkien's ''LordOfTheRings'' books skyrocketed. Realizing he could make serious cash selling the rights, he decided to get it extended. However a film had to be made and released in order for that to happen. With the contract set to expire in one month, he got Gene Deitch to hastily produce a 12 minute film using still drawings and got it finished in 30 days, which was then screened in a Manhattan theater on the day the contract expired. The deal being fulfilled, the contract was extended and Snyder sold the rights for $100,000 (in 1960s money). In 2012 the film finally resurfaced when Snyder's son [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBnVL1Y2src uploaded it on YouTube]].
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* Some people have accused Sony of making the ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' reboot so soon after the end of the Raimi series due to wanting to keep the cinematic rights to Spider-Man away from [[MarvelCinematicUniverse Marvel Studios]].

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* "Eerie"

* The most widely-known example is ''Flash Comics'', the title that introduced [[{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] (then called Captain Thunder). ''Whiz Comics'' #2 was the first actual issue; #1 was an ashcan edition and was never publicly released.

* "5-Cent Comics"

* While most prevalent in comics, other entertainment fields have done similar things, including the infamous 1994 ''Film/TheFantasticFour'' movie. The flick was made on the cheap, and never intended for wide-release. The studio was given a certain number of years to make the film, and would lose the rights if no film was produced. By the term of the contract, they had to make a film. No one specified it had to be a good one.

* Some people have accused Sony of making the ''{{The Amazing Spider-Man}}'' reboot so soon after the end of the Raimi series due to wanting to keep the cinematic rights to Spider-Man away from [[MarvelCinematicUniverse Marvel Studios]].

* Some people have accused Sony of making the '{The Amazing Spider-Man}'' reboot so soon after the end of the Raimi series due to wanting to keep the cinematic rights to Spider-Man away from [[MarvelCinematicUniverse Marvel Studios]].

* Some people have accused Sony of making the ''TheAmazingSpider-man'' reboot so soon after the end of the Raimi series due to wanting to keep the cinematic rights to Spider-Man away from [[MarvelCinematicUniverse Marvel Studios]].

* Some people have accused Sony of making the ''TheAmazingSpiderman'' reboot so soon after the end of the Raimi series due to wanting to keep the cinematic rights to Spider-Man away from [[MarvelCinematicUniverse Marvel Studios]].

* Some people have accused Sony of making the ''[[Film/TheAmazingSpider-Man The Amazing Spider-Man]]'' reboot so soon after the end of the Raimi series due to wanting to keep the cinematic rights to Spider-Man away from [[MarvelCinematicUniverse Marvel Studios]].

<<|MetaConcepts|>>

* The 1966 adaptation of ''TheHobbit'' was this. Producer Bill Snyder bought the rights to make a film from J.R.R. Tolkien's estate on the cheap, and just before it was set to expire the popularity of Tolkien's ''LordOfTheRings'' books skyrocketed. Realizing he could make serious cash selling the rights, he decided to get it extended. However a film had to be made and released in order for that to happen. With the contract set to expire in one month, he got Gene Deitch to hastily produce a 12 minute film using still drawings and got it finished in 30 days, which was then screened in a Manhattan theater on the day the contract expired. The deal being fulfilled, the rights was extended and Snyder sold the rights for $100,000 (in 1960s money). In 2012 the film finally resurfaced when Snyder's son [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBnVL1Y2src uploaded it on YouTube]].

* The 1966 adaptation of ''TheHobbit'' was this. Long story short, a producer named Bill Snyder bought the rights to make an animated feature film based on the book. A script was written, but he wanted too much money, and thus it was never picked up and all was forgotten. However, just as the rights was about to expire the value of film rights for Tolkien's stories skyrocketed. Snyder decided to make a quick buck selling the rights, but he had to actually make a film and have it screened in public. Thus he had Gene Deitch (yes, the guy who did those weird ''TomAndJerry'' shorts) produce a 11 minute film with still illustrations ([[LoopholeAbuse the deal to the rights didn't specify how long the film had to be, and that it didn't actually need to be animated.]]). Thus a film was hastily produced in 30 days and it screened once in a movie theater in Manhattan. The film was never seen since then...until 2012, when [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBnVL1Y2src it was uploaded on YouTube]].

* The 1966 adaptation of ''TheHobbit'' was this. Long story short, a producer named Bill Snyder bought the rights to make an animated feature film based on the book, then abandoned it (a script was written), and then forgotten about it. However, just as the rights was about to expire the value of film rights for Tolkien's stories skyrocketed. Snyder decided to make a quick buck selling the rights, but he had to actually make a film and have it screened in public. Thus he had Gene Deitch (yes, the guy who did those weird ''TomAndJerry'' shorts) produce a 11 minute film with still illustrations ([[LoopholeAbuse the deal to the rights didn't specify how long the film had to be, and that it didn't actually need to be animated.]]). Thus a film was hastily produced in 30 days and it screened once in a movie theater in Manhattan. The film was never seen since then...until 2012, when [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBnVL1Y2src it was uploaded on YouTube]].

* The most widely-known example is ''Flash Comics'', the title that introduced CaptainMarvel (then called Captain Thunder). ''Whiz Comics'' #2 was the first actual issue; #1 was an ashcan edition and was never publicly released.

* ''TheEvilDead'' has the short film Within the Woods, a cut down prototype of TheEvilDead made to convince filmmakers to finance the project.

* While most prevalent in comics, other entertainment fields have done similar things, including the infamous 1994 ''Film/TheFantasticFour'' movie. The flick was made on the cheap, and never intended for wide-release.

While most prevalent in comics, other entertainment fields have done similar things, including the infamous 1994 ''Film/TheFantasticFour'' movie.

* While most prevalent in comics, other entertainment fields have done similar things, including the infamous 1994 ''Film/TheFantasticFour'' movie. The flick was made incredibly on the cheap, and never intended for wide-release.

The most widely-known example is ''Whiz Comics'', the title that introduced CaptainMarvel. ''Whiz Comics'' #2 was the first actual issue; #1 was an ashcan edition and was never publicly released.

A term that originated from the GoldenAge of comic books. There was a big rush to copyright as many characters and titles as possible, but the actual production time of a comic book made it a bit problematic when days or even hours mattered. The solution? Create a simple mock comic, often just a cover and some unrelated filler made up of garbage sheets, and submit it to the copyright office. The term itself comes from the fact that these comics weren't ever actually made to be distributed, often just going straight to the ashcan (period vernacular for trashcan) once they did their job.

Starting in the DarkAge of comics, an "ashcan" copy of a comic, often black and white and limited in distribution, would sometimes be distributed as a promotional item. These comics were called "ashcans" for marketing reasons (i.e. to imply rarity and value like the Golden Age versions) but really had little to do with GoldenAge ashcans.