I know the big trend is to pile on Fox due to the awful movies they released in 2008 and seem to have been releasing over the past few years, but when it comes to this Watchmen lawsuit I can’t say I blame them. When you are talking about material rights it is a pretty serious situation and considering the amound of money Warner Bros. is hoping to make off the filmed adaptation currently slated for a March 6 release Fox would be stupid not to make sure they are justly compensated for the material they supposedly own. It’s the fault of Warner Bros. for not taking care of the situation a long time ago.
The news the headline refers to involves a sit down ruling U.S. District Court Judge Gary Feess had with the attorneys for both sides on Monday in which Feess is reported as saying, “I thought we ought to talk. I have spent more time than I think you can imagine working on your case at a time when I didn’t expect to be working on it,” reports Michael Cieply at the New York Times.
Feess ruled last week that 20th Century Fox has distribution rights to Watchmen after suing Warner Bros. in February claiming the studio never fully relinquished story rights from its deal made in the late 1980s.
The “Times” continues to mention how once things began to heat up, fingers pointed from all sides at Lawrence Gordon, the veteran producer who brought the film to Warner after failed attempts over the years to make it with Fox, Universal Pictures, and then Paramount. Fox contends Gordon failed in an obligation to offer the movie to them when director Zack Snyder (300) became involved.
Warner’s lawyers argued that Mr. Gordon and his lawyers had signed over rights to “Watchmen” without mentioning a crucial agreement between a company Mr. Gordon controlled and Fox. Also, they said that if anyone still owed a buyout fee to Fox, it was Mr. Gordon.
As far as all the legal mumbo-jumbo goes I am clueless, but I can’t imagine Fox holds some sort of rights to the material. I don’t see how delaying the release date would benefit their suit, even though I do see how the threat of delaying the release could put Warner Bros. into a corner.
The hearing scheduled for Jan. 20 will decide whether the release of the film should be blocked. So put it on your Google Calendars now and stay tuned. You can get the full “New York Times” report here.
