From KCRW in Santa Monica, I'm Claude Brodesser Ackner, and this is The Business.

This week, it's Halloween on the business.

The Witches of Oz musical Wicked is a global phenomenon that's made scary profits for Universal Studios.

We talk with producer Mark Platt about Hollywood's all-time most successful film project.

That's not yet a film.

But first, it's the Hollywood News Caravan. Stick around. It's the business from NPR. In keeping with our Halloween theme,

we begin the Hollywood News Caravan with good news for stars who've passed to the Great Beyond.

And we're not talking about the Jewish Home for the Aging.

According to a brilliant New York Times headline, quote,

Long Dead Celebrities can now breathe easier.

Last spring, the Times explains the California legislature passed a law that will allow dead celebs to

benefit from their publicity rights, even from the grave.

Back in 1984, the legislature had passed a bill that allowed stars to bequeath such rights.

But federal courts ruled that the bill wasn't retroactive.

And so the estate of a star like Marilyn Monroe, for instance, was unable to prevent the

unauthorized use of her image and likeness. For proof of this, see every t-shirt and chotchky shop on

Hollywood Boulevard. Now, with Senate Bill No. 771, which was pushed through the legislature by

the Screen Actors Guild and the Monroe estate, all that changes.

From this point forward, all celebrities will receive the same treatment under the law,

regardless of when they died.

But there's also bad news for the living.

The U.S. has a major treaty in the works to improve global anti-piracy efforts.

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