This might be one more reason not to see the 20th Century Fox Wolvering movie when it arrives. In a ruling by Los Angeles federal judge Gary Allen, his honor saw fit to release an intial ruling that says Fox owns a copyright interest in Warner Bros. Watchmen movie.
“Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the ‘Watchmen’ motion picture,†the ruling said.
Yikes. Considering that Fox’s original motion was set up to keep Watchmen from being released on March 6, this puts a big damper on the film. While I agree Fox is looking out for Fox, and has every right to protect their interest, and Warner Bros. should have done its own due diligence in making sure this passed around property was 100-percent theirs, it still sucks big time.
Now before everyone starts getting in an uproar over this ruling – a full 25 days before the January 20th trial was to begin – Fox is more than likely looking for a big payment (pay off) on what is sure to be the biggest money maker Hollywood has seen since The Dark Knight. More than likely Warner Bros. and Fox will reach some kind of agreement in which Fox gets a huge sum of the profits from the film.
However, if an agreement is not reached and the film does indeed get shelved, it will be one of the biggest Hollywood blunders since the motion picture industry began, and will be a case that will be examined in detail and discussed in many a copyright class for future lawyers.
4 Comments
hmmmmgrrrbllrrrrrrrraaaooooooorrrrrrrmmmmmpfffff…..
That’s my opinion…
Copyright Law; man’s greatest enemy.
I wouldn’t necessarily call it a blunder. This is clearly a case of FOX’s dirty tricks. They could have brought up this legal issue the second they had heard about it but decided to wait until the movie was completely finished. Tom Rothman, ass extraordinaire, universally loathed by comic book fandom in the know. And for good reason. This incident is merely the latest crime that Rothman is guilty of. Granted, Warner Bros. should have done their due diligence better. But the fact that they waited until this late hour indicates that they’re not dealing fairly.
FOX is getting on everyone’s last nerve what with the preordained cancellation of Dollhouse and Terminator SCC and the premature cancellation of Firefly. And now this dirty tricks attack on Watchmen. Hopefully, if Watchmen is not release, people will organize a major boycott of the studio.
It is nicely summed up in this article: http://www.cracked.com/blog/fox-can-eat-several-dicks/
But i gotta wonder how WB could make the movie without having this cleared up already.