lawyers are running everything into the dirt.
by creating a property tied to an IP, it extends the life of the underlying IP and expands the defendable property under the underlying IP. usually an option to make a movie comes with a sunset where the option expires, so taking an idea and then pasting IP onto it "solves" a problem.
for a lawyer's brain there is no downside to making Colgate Toothpaste: The Movie using a script that has nothing to do with it.