'Watchmen' Injunction Ruling Could Come Sooner
Warner Bros. is anxious to get word on release date decision
Currently the big day for the Warner Bros. adaptation Watchmen is not its March 6 release date, but January 20, the day Judge Gary A. Feess is set to decide whether or not he will issue an injunction against the film's release at the request of 20th Century Fox. Feess ruled back on December 24 "Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the Watchmen motion picture."
As it stands right now, on January 20 Feess will decide whether the release date for the film will be delayed or not. Warner Bros. is citing a precedent-setting decision involving eBay that says a plaintiff in a copyright-infringement case must, among other things, prove that it will be irreparably harmed without an injunction and that money damages will not be an adequate remedy. Warners is also claiming by delaying the release they, in fact, are the ones being harmed as they have strategically planned out the marketing for the release. As a result they are requesting the hearing be moved up to as early as Monday because "time is critical," and they must soon commit to tens of millions of dollars in marketing for a film it isn't sure it can release.
Fox claims the eBay case does not apply in this instance and Warners' infringement of its rights entitles it to stop the release.
More is expected to be known on Friday following a morning status conferencein Feess' Los Angeles courtroom to determine when the hearing will take place. Among the items discussed Warners is asking to bring live witnesses to the anticipated 2-3 day hearing while Fox wants everything submitted in writing.
On a final, more personal opinion of the matter, I know I have joked about this in the past with regards to the fanboy boycott, but I am confused on one factor:
Sure, this whole thing is a mess because Warner Bros. seemed to wait so long to address it and Fox waited so long to bring about a lawsuit, but I have either entirely missed, or it has never been published, what Fox is asking for.
Feess advised the two studios reach a settlement, something Warner Bros. said wasn't going to happen. Why not? Is Fox asking for sole distribution rights?
I guess, if Feess decides Fox does have rights to the feature they really should get all rights to the film and everything Warner Bros. has done so far considering it is an infringement of their rights. I don't want to take sides, but if Fox's rights were infringed upon then they deserve everything that is due to them, including the entire film if the case may be. However, I find it extremely odd I haven't heard any serious details on what Fox is asking for outside of an injunction.
Can anyone point me in the direction of a better breakdown of what Fox is asking for?
As for this story, I will post an update as soon as it is known.
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Clearly FOX MUST have been aware that Warner Bros. was making a Watchman movie without their company attached. Thus, CLEARLY FOX waited 'til after the movie was made and close enough to the release date to cause problems for Warner Bros.
This might be a dumb question, but can't a judge be like you snooze you lose, so to speak? If FOX had a real problem with this movie being made, why didn't they bring it up before (besides the obvious fact that FOX was hoping to get some kind of back-end deal)?
I just hope that Watchmen will come out in 2009. It might just get scrapped, then it could be made into a better movie than what this zack snyder piece of shit looks like.
@Taylor: I doubt it Taylor… I am not much of a legal junkie, but if Fox owns the rights in any way, shape or form I think they can bring a lawsuit within a certain amount of time even after it's released.
as far as i'm concerned this is a marketing ploy the movie will be released as intended
with a lot of the movies money going to fox.
at the end…
it's all about money and fox needs some badly.
If Watchmen is not released on March 6, Fox will take all the blame. All the boycotts and happy face button mailing campaigns; Fox takes it all. Warners knows this.
Does anybody actually think Warners cares if it opens on March 6 or June 5? The only thing a postponed release will do (in the short term at least) is hype the movie more, and we've seen how desperate Warners is to hype the flick.
Case in point (to Warner's hyping the film).
How often do we see DVD only content getting submitted for MPAA ratings?
i think Fox waited till they saw the footage to start causing problems because they wanted to see if it was worth it and now that its gonna be a huge blockbuster they want it back. So if the court decides with Fox. What does Fox want and what will happen the The Black Freighter dvd that was set to be released the week of the movie. They need to get this solved soon because if there releasing the direct to dvd Black Freighter then they'll need to start making em soon.
It'll be a miracle if this flick isnt delayed.
Fox hasn't had a huge hit since "Live Free or Die Hard". As soon as they saw the Watchmen stuff, they might have remembered that minimal detail. They want MONEY. In this economy, some studios need some extra mullah, and it looks like Watchmen will be pulling in some digits, so Fox could get their share…but what about Paramount, Legendary Pictures, Virtual Studios (?), and DC Comics? They all have distribution rights along with Warner Bros. What will become of those studios? Do you know, Brad?
You've got to check out that open letter from Watchmen producer Lloyd Levin on HitFix, it's an illuminating read but I'd be lying if it didn't make me nervous.
Here's the link Brad – http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/2008-12-6-motion-captured/posts/2009-1-8-an-open-letter-from-watchmen-producers
As I understand it, if Fox wins this, they would have rights to the Watchmen property, but NOT the Watchmen movie that WB made. That movie would never legally be allowed to be released. And I would cry. Of course, it would pretty much instantly be leaked in such a case, but still.