Ashcan Copy: Difference between revisions

Line 4:

Starting in the [[Dark Age]] 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 [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] ashcans.

{{examples|Examples of titles that had their origin in Ashcan situations:}}

== Comic Books ==

* 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.

Line 14:

Line 15:

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

* The 1966 adaptation of ''[[The Hobbit]]'' 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 ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' 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].

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory]]'', an adaptation of [[Roald Dahl]]'s ''[[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]]'' with [[Tom and Jerry]] half-heartedly tacked on to it, was widely reviled as a cheap ashcan cash-grab made mostly so that Warner Brothers could hog the rights to produce ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' adaptations even further.

==Video Games==

* It was widely speculated that ''[[Tony Hawk's Pro Skater]] 5'' was rushed so that [[Activision]] could churn out one last game before their contract with pro skater [[Tony Hawk]] expired in 2015.