Watchmen Movie in Legal Limbo?

[frulad]

(Guys, I could keep this up all night, but I got other stuff to do...)

[raw_bean]

Keep what up? Your posts appear blank to me.

[Radhil]

I'm sorry, but this whole thing just reeks of legalistic extortion.

I don't care if a C&D was sent, Fox had plenty of time while the movie was in production to really get the ball rolling on a lawsuit or a shutdown if they actually held all the cards or if that's what they really wanted to do. Instead the movie starts to build buzz, at the very least it's mostly complete and a teaser published, and then they start manuevering - quite publicly - against WB.

The movie's not in limbo. It will come out and make money (or fail to). Fox will walk away as soon as WB cuts them an appropriately large slice of that money.

(and is it me or is the forum and the site acting laggy?)

[tarasis]

A Bob Hope comic? Whoa, can't imagine how a comic of him would work. Much as I enjoy him.

[Joe Nazzaro]

There was a Jerry Lewis comic as well. These things made sense when you were seven years old.

[Andrew_Swallow]

(and is it me or is the forum and the site acting laggy?)

I am finding the forum very slow to load as well.

[timk519]

I am finding the forum very slow to load as well.

Ditto here.

[Jan]

I've left a note for DougO.

Jan

[vakie]

I still say Warners and Fox should swap the rights for Watchmen against the Batman TV series and everybody goes home happy.

There is an interesting write-up at tvshowsondvd about this issue, and how complicated the rights are...

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Bat...Reported/10573

[frulad]

Somewhere back in the UK, Alan Moore is probably laughing his ass off.

I was talking to an editor of mine about this situation last night and he had a really good idea. Instead of Fox settling for a percentage of something they don't know is going to be a hit or not, maybe they could Warner Bros to release the rights on the original Batman TV series that they've kept in limbo for years. That way, Fox gets something that will make them a ton of money and Warners keeps Watchmen for themselves. Mind you, the film could turn out to be a massive hit, but I'm still trying to be pragmatic about this.

Rich Johnston brought this up in his column last week as if it was his idea and he was going to save WATCHMEN for us with it.

[James Jeffrey Paul]

I too hope that the WATCHMEN movie "goes through."

Can't wait to see it.

[DeanHFox]

Judge Rules in Watchmen Case

EW.com is reporting that the judge has ruled in the Watchmen case:

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/...m.html?cnn=yes

[vakie]

So does this ruling mean that the trial on January 20 won't happen after all, and this was the final decision? And the only thing left to decide is the amount WB has to pay?

This whole thing is just strange. If Fox lawyers contacted WB prior to filming, why didn't they negotiate then. It would've probably been much cheaper than what they have to pay now. Instead they ignored the issue and hoped it would go away if they pretended it doesn't exist? There's got to be more to the story than that.

[glindros]

From the way I read it, if the two studios don't agree what to do by the 16th, the judge will make the decision on the 20th for them.


I guess they didn't feel that the agreement Fox made was binding, and or wasn't aware of it until Fox pressed the matter.


(WB, while I still don't forgive you for how you handle B5, please don't let Fox get editorial control of the movie.)

[NotSoWize]

Yes, it looks like if the studios don't resolve this themselves, then the trial begins on Jan 20th. It sure doesn't seem likely to me that Watchmen gets released on schedule unless Fox and WB come to an agreement outside of the trial.

Yuck!