FOX Lawyers: The Smartest Men on the Cinder

Leonard Pierce — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:45:00 GMT

Movie nerds like myself, who have invested what little remains of their self-identity in the remote possibility of Watchmen not being terrible, were thrown into a major tizzy a few months ago when FOX Studios, which claims to own the rights to any and all future movie adaptations of the Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons superhero classic, moved to legally block Warner Brothers from releasing the Zack Snyder film.

Many felt this would be an epic moral battle where FOX exerted their rights in the labyrinth of complex entertainment laws to protect their rightful property regardless of future plans, while fending off the ire of pissed-off fans; others thought that it would be a titanic legal showdown where Warner allayed incomprehensible facts and figures in a desperate attempt to prove themselves on the correct side of the law and get their movie out on time. Others, like your humble correspondent, figured that it was basically just FOX making a bunch of noise, based on a slender bit of legalese, in order to wring a fat payday out of what's widely predicted to be one of 2009's top-grossing films. As Mania.com is reporting, well...one of us was right.

FOX and Warner Brothers are both reporting "productive talks" in the attempt to settle this thorny legal issue, which means that both company's lawyers kept writing dollar amounts on a piece of paper until they arrived at a figure that was mutually more than you will ever make in your life. In case you're really curious, ugly details of the whole money-grubbing mess -- in which producer Larry Gordon accuses FOX of pushing the entire thing to make a buck -- can be read at the Hollywood Reporter's legal blog. What was it someone once said about everyone having their hands in the next guy's pockets?

We Watch the Watchmen...and Watch, and Watch, and Watch...

Watchmen Watch: Rorschach's First Lawsuit

Leonard Pierce — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:30:00 GMT

Well, at least somebody thinks the upcoming Watchmen movie is going to be a big hit: Fox apparently thinks enough of the project to go ahead and sue Warner Brothers, claiming that they hold exclusive rights to develop, produce and distrubute a theoretical movie based on the groundbreaking graphic novel.

Of course, Fox's attorneys (all loyal Screengrab readers, we have no doubt) must already have known that WB was developing just such a property for some time now; we hear there's even been some talk about the movie on the internet. So the fact that they're going ahead with the lawsuit at this late stage is indicative of, if nothing else, the fact that they think the movie will make enough money to justify the legal proceedings.

The lawsuit itself is a horribly boring and complex affair involving quitclaims, exclusive rights, long-defunct production companies, turnaround agreements, and all that other stuff that big corporations use to generate income out of thin air. It seeks "unspecified damages" and will no doubt be settled out of court; its chances of actually stopping or even delaying the release of the much-anticipated adaptation are practically nil. But in today's Hollywood, a movie can barely be said to have arrived if it doesn't have at least a couple of good lawsuits whirling around it; the Fox suit is probably the best sign yet for fans that a Watchmen movie is really going to happen.

The Screengrab : fox studios

FOX Lawyers: The Smartest Men on the Cinder

Watchmen Watch: Rorschach's First Lawsuit