The New York Times has some breaking news on the Warner Bros. Vs. 20th Century Fox legal tussle over the graphic novel adaptation of Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” as directed by Zack Snyder.
And it’s bad Christmas day news for “Watchmen” fans. An L.A. federal judge has said he he intends to grant 20th Century Fox’s claim that it owns a copyright interest in the “Watchmen” movie.
Warner Bros. is obviously distributing the film which is set for a March 6, 2009 release and Fox has asserted for months now that they started own part of the project and have been trying to block the film’s release.
According to the Times, which called the ruling a “surprise” one, “The decision was disclosed in a five-page written order issued on Wednesday. Gary A. Feess, a judge in the United States District Court for Central California, said he would provide a more detailed order soon.”
Guess who’s getting hate mail that’s probably being written right now. WB spokes people wouldn’t comment.
During an earlier hearing, the judge said he thought the matter could be settled in court, but now he saying , jesus: “Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the ‘Watchmen’ motion picture.”
That’s fucking huge, however Judge Feess has 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.
Fox is now playing on home court and gets to set the terms if there is a settlement, but with the economy the way it is and “Watchmen” looking like a lucrative blockbuster that slipped out of their hands, this could get ugly for Warner Bros. Fox distributing the film seems doubtful, they don’t want to be the bad guys to block the film, but Warner’s forking over a ton of cash isn’t out of the question at all. Somewhere at WB someone is being screamed at while home for the holidays. Over at Fox, the “Watchmen” poster, that says, “justice is coming to all of us. no matter what we do” is now being looked at with snickering irony.