Qfyilyi

There are many movies that take original Lord of the Rings characters. Such as human, orcs, and elves. One of these movies is Bright with Will Smith

To make such movie, do they need copy right approval from anyone? Or can anyone use any character they want without permission

Would it be ok if they used Harry Potter's characters?

For a character to be protected by copyright, it must be an original creation. Tolkein never had a copyright on elves or orcs, because both of those creatures existed in literature prior to the Lord of the Rings. On the other hand, Hobbits were an original creation, so the use of a Hobbit character would require a license from the Tolkein estate. That's why Dungeons and Dragons, for example, refers to Hobbit-like creatures as "Halflings".

Extending that to Harry Potter, we see a similar mix of established and original characters and creatures. Anyone can tell a story with a basilisk, or a centaur, or a hippogriff, because these creatures are all derived from classical antiquity. On the other hand, I could not include a Death-Eater or a Horcrux in a new work, as those would be protected by copyright.