The decision as to whether 20th Century Fox can block the release of Warner Bros.’ March 6, “Watchmen” release is in the hands of the courts and to be decided January 20th, right?
Maybe D-Day will come sooner; Warner’s is actually pressing for the decision to be made asap, as soon as Monday (January 12) because “time is critical,” the studio said in papers filed this week, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
There’s two key issues at hand and one hurdle. Basically the judge has to decide if Fox can block the release, if they’re not allowed to do so or “whether the parties should proceed to a trial over money damages.” So that could be a better options for fans who don’t care if any studio loses money and just wants to see Zack Snyder-directed film.
If Fox is allowed to block the film, well, then hell… we can’t even go there, that seems ugly and it’s hard to even imagine where things go from there. That’s for lawyers and people who actually have their hands on the legal documents to speculate.
In arguments this week, Warners actually cited a precedent-setting case involving EBay.
“[It states] 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.”
WB is actually claiming the opposite, that Fox “abandoned” the project and that they have “carefully orchestrated” its release.
“Barring the release will cause grave damage to Warners and third parties like exhibitors who are counting on the release of the movie, the studio argues.”
Fox claims the EBay case has no barring here and the infringment still entitles them to block the films release. Yet another status update on the case with Judge Gary A. Fees is scheduled for tomorrow (Friday, January 09) to determine when this new decision date will happen. God, we would’ve flunked law school long ago. BTW, because of these court proceedings WB has had to fully disclose their numbers and they say that after the marketing and promotion of the film, they will have spent over $150 million on “Watchmen.” No wonder they’re so fucking nervous. They really can’t afford to lose.
MEANWHILE! One of the “The Dark Knight” scribes David S. Goyer, who notably was absent from the names on the ‘TDK’ Writers Guild nominations, has said that a lot of WB/D.C. comic book films are being put on hold.
“A lot of the DC movies right now at Warner Brothers are all on hold while they figure out — they’re going to come up with some new plan, methodology, things like that — so everything has just been pressed pause on at the moment,” Goyer told IESB.net Continuing their reasoning he said, “I think D.C. Comics was responsible for 15% of Warner Brothers’ revenue this year, something crazy like that, so they realized that comic books — it’s become a new genre and it’s become one of the most successful genres.”
Does this mean they want to proceed ahead slowly and surely or is this damn Watchmen trial scaring them and they want to wait and see what happens before they greenlit anymore projects (after all even a trial over money damages could hurt them bad).