Hadn't heard this before

[trinityvixen]

I did know about the lawsuit that might hold up The Watchmen movie, but I hadn't heard one little hitch in that until this NYT article:
In a summary of its position in Friday’s report, Warner said Fox “sat silently” as one of the producers of “Watchmen,” Lawrence Gordon, took the project “to studio after studio with Fox’s express knowledge.”

The basic story is that Fox bought the rights to the graphic novel, sat on it forever because it seemed an impossible movie to make, then let it go. It found a production company and money and director and writer over at Warner Brothers. They've all but made the movie (pricinple photography is done), and now Fox is screaming about the movie being stolen from them. Specifically, that some part of how they let their ownership of the property slip wasn't a total release and therefore they needed to be a) entirely bought off or b) involved in any production.

What's notable for me about that quote is that it seems very improbable, near impossible that Fox would have gone even as long as San Diego Comic Con 2008, where The Watchmen trailer and panels debuted without knowing that Warner was making a film based on this property. There's just no way. If the internet knew since way back when Zack Snyder was doing 300, Fox had to have known.

The fact that they let Warner sink a bajillion dollar into the thing and then went about legal action is incredibly bad form. It basically looks like Fox studio execs thought "Wow, this is going to be way too expensive to make, but it could be a really big hit if it gets made. Let's let some other studio make it and absorb the costs and then we'll sue them! We spend nothing, we get free money!" That's incredibly shit behavior. Of course, legally speaking, they're probably within their rights to do so. (I doubt they have to prove that they didn't know someone else was making a movie with their licensed property until now to win their case.) And Warner Bros. execs are fools for not being 100% certain they had all the legal ownership of this potential cash-cow nailed down. Still, shitty form, Fox. (I know, same old, same old, right?)

Comments

[droidguy1119.livejournal.com]

As has been widely discussed on the internets, there is no chance in hell that this lawsuit is going to at all in any way ever delay Watchmen or have any effect whatsoever on its March 6th release date. All that will happen is that Fox will make some money off of the movie, by WB paying them off, making them partner on the movie, giving them back end, or whatever, all of which mean the movie has to come out for Fox to profit.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I never thought it would delay the movie. Warner won't let it. The early slot is so enviable, and with Harry Potter pushed back from November, there will be fewer "safe" debut weekends in the summer. Warner needs to open the film when they said they would.

Fox is using this to make the negotiations about a settlement (or, you know, trial, maybe) more time-constrained. It doesn't hurt them at all if the movie's delayed, they're still going to profit off this whether it comes a month or a year later. The time pressure is exclusive to Warner Bros. which only helps Fox.

Fox people are still jackholes for waiting this long, even if this works. (Which it probably will.)

[droidguy1119.livejournal.com]

That isn't true. If Fox fought hard enough, they could in fact get the movie delayed, Warner Bros. would and does not have any control to stop them other than fighting back. The movie being delayed is definitely absolutely 100% within the realm of physical possibility, and the only people with the power to MAKE it happen it Fox (all WB can do is defend against it).

But it WOULD hurt Fox if the movie is delayed, because they don't want a standard out-of-court settlement on what could be one of the biggest blockbusters of 2009, what they want is to become a profit-sharing partner on the movie, to pick up some points in the movie's back end, which means they DO want the movie to come out, and so they won't be attempting to stop it.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

There's almost no way Fox can fight hard enough to delay the film. I understand fine why they wouldn't want to, but this isn't a large or even very complicated case. I wouldn't expect any trial to take more than a month. There's not yet a cease-and-desist order on working on the film, so Snyder et al. can finish it without being affected. They just can't release it. (I'm sure Fox is all for them working on it, too, which is why no C-a-D.)

Could the lawsuit alone delay the start date? Sure. Will it? No. The only way to make this last longer in court is for Fox to monkey around with lawyers and evidence and request constant stays or leaves or rests or whatever they call it. Warner Brothers can then hit them back and call their shenanigans as highly suspicious, to which a judge might be sympathetic since it would be obvious that the only reason Fox would drag its feet is to cost WB money. (That's why they've waited this long to put forth the lawsuit. They've had ample time to get evidence.) I don't think most judges--or juries, if they have one--would be very sympathetic to Fox if it then tried to delay things further.

But I guess we'll have to see.