BREAKING: Fox Owns Rights to 'Watchmen' Says Judge
Well, this certainly puts a kink in the works
The New York Times has just revealed that Gary A. Feess, a federal judge in Los Angeles, said he intended to grant 20th Century Fox’s claim that it owns a copyright interest in the Watchmen, a movie shot by Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures and set for release in March. At an earlier hearing, the judge said he believed that issues in the case could be settled only at a trial, which was scheduled for late January. On Wednesday, however, Judge Feess said he had reconsidered and concluded that Fox should prevail on crucial issues.
"Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the Watchmen motion picture," the ruling said.
This battle became public back in February 2008 when Fox said it planned on suing Warner Bros. claiming to have exclusive rights to develop, produce and distribute a film based on the graphic novel "Watchmen." The suit has been discussed in a variety of issues since then all pointing to producer Lawrence Gordon who sold the rights to the film to Fox but when Fox dropped plans for a movie he began shopping it around to Universal and Paramount until it ultimately fell in the hands of Warner.
However, don't get too concerned just yet fanboys, in Wednesday's ruling Judge Feess advised both Fox and Warner to look toward a settlement or an appeal.
"The parties may wish to turn their efforts from preparing for trial to negotiating a resolution of this dispute or positioning the case for review," he said.
Will there be a settlement? I can only assume so since that March 6 release date is looming, but this is definitely interesting news heading into the holidays as we probably won't hear any new details until the new year.
Links from Other Sites You May Like
Showing 11 Comments
~ PLEASE NOTE ~
If, in any way, your comment is an attack on the author of this post or a previous commenter, your comment will be deleted without question.
Add a New Comment |
Click to Read Our Commenting Rules & Guidelines
man, if they screw with the release date, ill be ticked off. that will leave nutttin worth a flip for a while in 09!
Yeah please don't delay it!!!!
Great.
Since Fox has done such a bang-up job marketing and handling TDTESS, Meet Dave, X-Files 2 and Space Chimps and is bleeding cash through the neck, they wanna sink their yellow teeth into Watchmen.
Whoop-dee-do, Basil!
NOW WE KNOW WATCHMEN WILL SUCK
Why would Watchmen such? That makes no sense. The movie is already made and ready to go. Fox has no effect on it. But, for future projects involving the Watchmen, [Knowing Fox, they'll try to squeeze some sort of Prequel or Sequel out of it] I would be very worried.
I said if Fox kept going with this case, I would Boycott all Fox movies. So I am. Sorry, Wolverine, you looked decent enough, but my want to watch you is over powered by my hate of Fox.
The only thing keeping Fox alive now is its settlements.
God I hate them.
What worries me is that once Fox gets their grubby little hands on the movie, they will cut it down to a PG-13, and they will chop off 30 minutes of the running time to make it "commercially friendly."
I guarantee you. If Fox was making this movie from the getgo, before WB got involved, it would be PG-13 from the start. It would be 90 minutes long, and it would be directed by Brett Ratner.
Fox is the absolute WORST studio that could possibly distribute a movie like this. I bet they want to turn "Watchmen" into another "Fantastic Four."
I hope there is a Fox boycott. They need to learn a lesson. When "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" has an opening weekend of $15M, maybe then they will stop fooling around and ruining good films.
Fox is in desperate need of a blockbuster film and film franchise. Every other studio has a couple that brings in money while Fox doesn't. Guess they are looking at every loophole to attach themselves to Watchmen and get a cut of the revenues.
I also think we're long overdue for a Fox boycott. It's not like we'd be avoiding any really good movies anyway. (I do think WB will have to settle, they have far too much at stake here.)
I'm all up for a Fox boycott. They don't have anything good coming out soon (like they ever do), and even though it probably won't make a difference, it will at least make me feel better that I am not giving money to a group of people who have just proven they could not care less about the fans who see their films.
I can live without Wolverine. I can certainly live without Night at the Museum 2, and Ice Age 3. But just the fact that Fox is anywhere near Watchmen scares me. These are the people who gave us such classics as the first Fantastic Four, and X-Men 3. They obviously have no care about the quality of their films, as long as it looks good enough to make a ton of money. Watchmen is not some fluff superhero story. But I'd bet that's exactly what Fox would turn it into if they got the chance. And now they have the chance.
Fox is in a position where they can hold Watchmen hostage. And as for Alan Moore, I know he never wanted this film to get made, but Fox is the last place he wants it. They would butcher the novel.
Fox better not mess this up, for a change.
@Ian: Any settlement talks would be monetary, not creative. Fox doesn't make family friendly films because they want to be a company with scruples. In the macro of things, PGs make more money than Rs, and Fox wants that money.
Warners offers them a cut of the domestic theatrical or some points of the home video distribution, Fox goes away.
I'm curious as to the real reason why Judge Feess changed his mind. It seems odd for a judge to reconsider a motion for trial, especially since the date was set.
If _Watchmen_ wasn't already set for the biggest opening in motion picture history, the judge just guaranteed it.