The Watchmen Lawsuit Is Over

 

And thank god for that.  Luckily, the news I have to report here is actually good too.  I was convinced that the Watchmen Lawsuit meant that the film was pretty much screwed and that there was no way in hell that the film was going to be released on March 6th like it has been planned to. 

 

It makes me very happy indeed then to report that Fox Pictures and Warner Brothers have officially reached a settlement in the case over who has the rights to the Watchmen property.  The super good news is that the film will not be delayed and we will be able to see it in March afterall.  Here's the results of the settlement:

 

Warner Bros. gets the right to open its superhero pic on March 6 as planned, and Fox's logo will not be on the film, sources said.

 

Fox, on the other hand, will emerge with an upfront cash payment that sources pegged between $5 million and $10 million, covering reimbursement of $1.4 million the studio invested in development fees, and also millions of dollars in legal fees incurred during the case.

 

More importantly, Fox will get a gross participation in "Watchmen" that scales between 5% and 8.5%, depending on the film’s worldwide revenues. Fox also participates as a gross player in any sequels and spinoffs, sources said.

 

A joint statement said, "Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox have resolved their dispute regarding the rights to the upcoming motion picture "Watchmen" in a confidential settlement. Warner Bros. acknowledges that Fox acted in good faith in bringing its claims, which were asserted prior to the start of principal photography.

 

Fox acknowledges that Warner Brothers acted in good faith in defending against those claims. Warner Bros. and Fox, like all "Watchmen" fans, look forward with great anticipation to this film’s March 6 release in theatres."

 

So there you have it folks, it's all settled and we can stop freaking out about this.  I must say that I find it funny (and by funny I mean sad) that after all of their posturing and all of their public statements, both Fox and WB have gone back on everything they've been saying about the case for months now.  Fox has maintained since filing the suit that the case wasn't about making any money off of WB's hard work, and that all they really wanted to do was shut the film down since they were the one's with the rights to it.  And WB has been steadfast in stating that there was absolutely no way they'd back down and would fight tooth and nail before they gave Fox even a penny for the film. 

 

But now here we are.  WB, fearing a major delay or even possibly a full loss of rights to the film from the court case has backed down and willingly signed onto a deal with Fox.  And Fox, for all its claims of not wanting cash, has signed on to take a rather sizeable share of the film's profits.  5% to 8.5% may not sound like much at first, but if you think about it we're talking about 5% of a potential blockbuster film.  Let's say that the film makes $100 million in the US and maybe another $200 million worldwide.  5% of $300 million is $15,000,000.  That's a lot of cash for not having to do a damn thing.  And those estimates of earnings are being conservative.

 

Am I suprised by any of this?  Of course not.  Any moron with half a brain knew that Fox's lawsuit was about money from the moment the court documents were filed.  They realized that WB had a potential gold mine on their hands, and they wanted their share.  Did they try to stop the film when it went into pre-production?  No.  Did they try to stop the film while it was being filmed?  No.  Fox only gave a damn about the film after last summer's San Diego Comic Con, when there was a line a mile long outside of the convention center that was trying to get into the room where they were going to be showing footage from the film.  At that point Fox's ears picked up and they realized they had missed a big opportunity to make a lot of money, and within days court papers were being filed.

 

And WB's attitude was certainly unwarranted.  They had to know from the beginning that Fox had a solid case.  They can't have been paying for the gigantic team of Lawyers they were throwing at this thing and not realize that.  So their trying to deny a settlement for so long was absolutely absurd.  The moment Fox filed its case, WB should have been trying to reach an out of court settlement.  Now they're going to be paying Fox off anyways, plus they've accumulated massive court costs.  Way to go WB.  That was a brilliant bit of economics right there.

 

Oh well though.  It's not my problem.  I'm just glad that it's over and that we'll get to see the film on March 6th.  Halleluiah!!!  Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and stare at some more pictures of the Silk Spectre II in her skintight vinyl costume.