20th Century Fox doesn't want you (or anyone) to see The Watchmen

 



 

In a potentially disasterous legal development, 20th Century Fox has sued Warner Brothers over their right to release The Watchmen movie next year.  And what's worse, a court judge has ruled against Warner's attempt to have the case dismissed, forcing the case to go to trial.

 

The ruling is potentially a huge victory for Fox, which could wind up as a profit participant in the film, and could cost Warners millions considering the film’s box office prospects. However, Fox’s legal team says it isn’t looking for monetary compensation and instead wants to prevent the big-budget film from being released altogether.

 

Project, which has been in development for two decades, finally began lensing in September with Zack Snyder at the helm. Warners was set to release the film, which stars Patrick Wilson and Jackie Earle Haley, on March 6 in the same slot in which "300" opened.

 

At the heart of Fox’s suit, filed in February, is the contention that it never ceded rights to the property. And according to the federal Judge Gary Allen Feess, Fox retained distribution rights to the graphic novel penned by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons through a 1991 claim. Furthermore, Feess appears to agree that under a 1994 turnaround deal with producer Larry Gordon, Gordon acquired an option to acquire Fox’s remaining interest in "Watchmen," which was never exercised, thereby leaving Fox with its rights under the 1994 agreement.

 

So if Fox succeeds in their attempt, this could possibly mean that we may never actually see The Watchmen movie.  If Fox does go through with this and stops the film's release entirely, I think it would be public suicide for the company.  A ton of buzz has already been generated by this film and the trailer that has been released.  If the film gets banned I could easily see people beginning boycotts of all Fox films until they allow it to be released.

 

Personally, I think it is a much more likely that Fox will sue to get the film banned, and once they achieve their goal they'll negotiate with Warner to receive a large cut of the profits from the film.  This move would be incredibly costly to Warner, who has fit the bill for the film's production, but it would be better than the other alternative of the film not being released at all and them never making a dime back on their substantial investment.

 

I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this story and will update you as things develop.