Santa was very good to the folks over at Fox Pictures this year. Under their tree this morning they found an amazing gift indeed. For Christmas they got the complete distribution rights to the Watchmen movie.
In a suprising turn of events, the judge presiding over the lawsuit between Fox Pictures and Warner Bros over who exactly has the rights to release a film based on Alan Moore's comic masterpiece has reversed an earlier decision he made which said the case was complicated enough to require a trial to figure out. Now he's saying he has an answer, and Warner Bros are not going to like the answer.
“Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the ‘Watchmen’ motion picture,” the ruling said.
In other words, this means Warner Bros is totally screwed. They now find themselves in the difficult position of having invested hundreds of millions of dollars on a project that is now legally up to Fox whether it ever sees the light of day. I highly doubt the film won't be released. Fox would have to be retarded not to want a film released that is guaranteed to be a big money maker for them. The only real question at this point is how exactly Warner and Fox will work together to release the film.
In ruling on Wednesday, Judge Feess 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.
Fans around the world will now sit with our collective breaths held as we wait for the next step in this case. Will the film come out? Will it not? Will we all have to picket the Fox studios and burn the place down if they deny us the opportunity to watch what could easily be the greatest comic book film of 2009? I sure hope not.
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