So I was reading a link on Waxy Links about how Disney filed a very very long list of trademarks for Jack Sparrow (link) and the list doesn’t actually end, it just keeps going and going.

I’ve learned they’ve registered the trademark for Johnny Depp’s pirate character, Jack Sparrow, in a tsunami of categories, including bikinis and bolo ties and badminton sets, licorice and lemonade and leg warmers, bagels and bowling balls and BBQ mits!

You should read the list, it’s truely absurd, but I doubt that Disney is going to be making bolo ties or cloth doilies with Johnny Depp’s image on it. The more I thought about it the more it makes sense in my mind for Disney to register as many of these trademarks as they can, or else SOMEONE will release “JACK SPARROW AFTER SEX WIPES” or some equally absurd product cashing in on Disney’s success with the movie.

It is indeed going overboard to take the time to register all of these items, but unfortunately it’s the only weapon Disney has against bootleg merchandise that doesn’t really tie in to the the movie. It’s their property to make money on if they desire.

Of course that being said, I probably will never see any of these pirate movies. I do enjoy the ride though.

From imdb.com (link):

Third film in the highly successful “Spider-Man” series sees several new villains and a new woman enter Peter Parker’s life. With his secret now revealed to both Mary Jane and Harry, Peter must face the consequences of his actions and his new life together with Mary Jane as they finally form a relationship. Yet their newfound open display of love has yielded some unfortunate results, not the least of which is Peter’s upset boss determined to make his life hell for causing his son emotional distress. Not helping is a young investigative reporter named Eddie Brock who Jameson has hired to find out why Mary Jane dumped his son for Peter - what’s Parker’s secrets? At the same time an escaped prisoner hiding out on a remote beach is caught in a dreadful accident and finds himself turned into a shape-shifting sand creature. Peter’s investigations into the past of this ‘Sandman’ brings him in contact with two very different things that will inevitably alter his life. The first a young woman named Gwen Stacy, daughter of the city’s new police chief who is developing a soft spot for Peter. The other, a black substance from an accident scene which ‘merges’ with Peter’s costume and gives him new found abilities. Things come to a head however when Harry Osborn, determined to take revenge against Peter for his father’s death and now equipped with what he needs to pull it off, teams with The Sandman in a new variation of his father’s Green Goblin guise and causes mayhem. In the ensuing chaos lives are lost, including people very close to Peter, whilst the black substance covering his suit separates from him and merges with a distraught Brock to form something else entirely - a creature unlike anything he’s ever faced. A ‘Venom’ that he may not be able to stop.

As a fan of the comic book, reading this makes me extremely happy. The writer of the screenplay is the same as Spider-Man 2, but Sam Raimi wrote the story (2 of the 3 the story writers of Spider-Man 2 are currently working on the Iron Man movie). They’re also using the cinematographer from the Matrix movies which is a switch, but he’s worked with Raimi in the past with Army of Darkness.

The telling of the Hobgoblin story (Harry Osborn) needs to be told because while it’s not nearly as interesting as his father’s story, it’s more interwoven into Peter’s personal life.

Reading the plot, this feels more and more like a Todd McFarlane Spider-Man story, despite that he’s not writing it. As a comic book fan, I know that the end of this one won’t be a happy one. From the sounds of it Aunt May will die, everyone knows that Gwen Stacy is gonna die, Harry Osborn, if not in jail for life, will die or escape forever. It’s possible that Peter is left alone and his relationship with Mary Jane doesn’t exist by the end of this one. I love the sound of it.

More than any other character I feel that Peter Parker’s life is the most caught up in his alter-ego, and that makes him the most interesting character.

And somehow I feel like the train scene from Spider-Man 2 is going to be nothing compared to the crescendo of this movie.