A24 Joins SCP Foundation Film as Wiki Protests
The dispute turns on whether a CC BY-SA license can coexist with a theatrical release: if the film is produced under that license, third parties could legally distribute copies of it without paying the rights holders.
Key Facts
- A24 will co-produce and distribute "V/H/S: SCP," a film based on the SCP Foundation, as the next entry in the "V/H/S" anthology series.
- The SCP Foundation film is planned for a theatrical release in 2027.
- The SCP Foundation's official English Wiki said on September 11 that it received no consultation or contact regarding the film and could not reach the filmmakers.
- SCP Foundation works are published under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA license, which requires derivative works to carry the same terms.
- A24's "Backrooms" has passed 394 million dollars in worldwide box office revenue.
Reporting from 3 sources: KAI-YOU, Automaton, GIGAZINE.
A24 is set to co-produce and distribute "V/H/S: SCP," a film based on the SCP Foundation, as the next entry in the "V/H/S" horror anthology series. Deadline reported the scoop; a theatrical release is planned for 2027. Spooky Pictures and Image Nation Studios are producing, with Brad Miska, Ben Ross, Rami Yasin and Jakob Pollack as executive producers. On September 11 the SCP Foundation's official English Wiki posted a statement saying it received no consultation or contact from the filmmakers, and that attempts to reach them went unanswered. The Wiki also argued that A24 holds no exclusive rights to SCP content, citing the CC BY-SA license under which SCP works are published. On September 13 an A24 public relations representative told Kotaku that the worldwide rights apply only to this "V/H/S" entry and do not claim exclusivity over the SCP setting.
The SCP Foundation English Wiki statement argues that under CC BY-SA 3.0 the finished film itself would carry the same license, so its makers could not stop third parties from copying, uploading, or selling it. The Wiki says a copy could be on YouTube on its release date, and that DRM cannot be used to block reproduction. Violating the license terms means an infringing party loses all rights to distribute works derived from the Wiki.
The production team gave Deadline its own framing, saying netlore "is rapidly growing as a new subject for the horror genre," and that A24 has the know-how to turn internet-born hits like "Backrooms" into successes. The statement was posted at scp-wiki.wikidot.com.
The Wiki's statement is a request for dialogue rather than a demand to stop. It says it wants to discuss how to produce and distribute the film in compliance with the license, and that "We hope that the filmmakers will comply with the legal obligations based on our license." The A24 response to Kotaku added that the project is a work made with an awareness of being a "tribute" to the community that created the setting.
Comparable disputes have hit the community before. A Russian man, Andrey Duksin, acquired an SCP trademark in 2019, shut down fan sites and tried to win operating rights to the Russian-language Wiki; the Foundation raised donations and sued, and Kotaku reported the trademark expired in 2022. In July, A24 removed Backrooms fan works from Redbubble, and director Kane Parsons, who built his following on Backrooms fan videos, appealed to the studio directly. A24 said the complaint had been filed automatically and was being withdrawn, adding, "We do not claim any ownership over the community's body of work."
The setting began with an episode posted to 4chan in 2007, and volunteers set up a community wiki the next year. The Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese wikis followed. The Backrooms film's worldwide box office passed 63 billion yen, and studios have since announced adaptations of other internet horror properties, including "Siren Head" and "Jeff the Killer."
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 3 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.