Цитата
Фан фильмы создаются не с коммерческой целью.
Когда дело доходит до суда -- фактически это становится не важно.
Fox Studios [...] used a cease and desist letter to close a Max Payne short that was in production.
MGM [...] has been known to force internet-distributed James Bond fan films offline.
Paramount Pictures actively pursued legal action against Star Trek fan films in the 1980s.
DC Comics was known to actively discourage the creation of fan movies in the 1990s.
Fan films made without official authorization exist in a legal grey area.
Короче: было бы желание. А между тем, «it was Disney who famously lobbied Congress to extend copyright terms in 1998, so much so that some dubbed the new law the Mickey Mouse Protection Act». Что указывает на то, что желание вполне может найтись.
В данном случае разница между «никаких проблем» (при Лукасе) и «могут быть проблемы» (сейчас) принципиальна.
UPD. А вот ближайший и по времени (октябрь 2013-го) и по смыслу пример:
Filmmaker Mike Pecci shocked his fans today when he revealed, via his website, that his long-awaited Punisher fan film, The Dead Can’t Be Distracted, may never see the light of day: He received a cease and desist letter from Marvel Studios, which demanded that he ”immediately stop [the] unauthorized use, advertising, sale and/or distribution of any production of The Punisher or any other Marvel character-based films.”