File this in the “Huh? Who knew?” category: Roger Ebert owns the trademark to the “thumbs up, thumbs down” of movie reviewing, and is currently in negotations with Disney-ABC as to whether anyone else gets to use it once he moves on to the great projection room in the sky.
Ebert, who is battling thyroid cancer, has not been on Ebert & Roeper in a year, with guest hosts joining Ebert’s partner, Richard Roeper. The “thumbs” designation carried on without him, but as Ebert has been in contract negotiations with Disney-ABC, the network opted to remove them from two recently-filmed episodes. A press release from the company suggested that Ebert had demanded the “thumbs” be removed, and Ebert struck back on Saturday with a press release of his own, posted on his website: “Contrary to Disney’s press release, I did not demand the removal of the Thumbs. They made a first offer on Friday which I considered offensively low. I responded with a counter-offer. They did not reply to this, and on Monday ordered the Thumbs removed from the show.”
Ebert and the family of Gene Siskel, who died in 1999, own the copyright to “thumbs”; Siskel and Ebert founded their legendary show in 1975, and have owned the copyright to “thumbs” for several decades, despite the fact that it has become part of the cultural lexicon.
It’s unclear what involvement Ebert plans to have with the show given his poor health, but he has stated that “thumbs” can continue to be used on the show in his absence. It’s hard to imagine a world in which a film’s quality can’t be summed up by someone’s appendage--the actual critical merit of that method aside--and harder still to imagine that Ebert will take that with him to the grave. Of course, this is also a man who liked The Lake House, so really, all bets are off.
