–Written by Jeff Jensen
Last year, Warner Bros. rolled film on Watchmen, Zack Snyder’s $100 million adaptation of a comic book widely hailed as the greatest superhero story ever created. But did the studio even have the right to make the movie at all?
Earlier this year, Twentieth Century Fox filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. seeking to stop Watchmen’s release (scheduled for March 6, 2009), claiming that it, not Warner Bros., held the distribution rights to any motion picture made from the material. Today, a judge declined Warner Bros.’ request to dismiss the lawsuit, setting the stage for a possibly ugly legal tussle.
The judge’s ruling comes as a shock to many in Hollywood, as most assumed Fox’s claim had no merit. After all, the central figure in this complicated saga is Larry Gordon (Die Hard, Field of Dreams), a veteran producer who surely must have known what he was doing when he began trying to bring Watchmen to the screen 17 years ago—a storied struggle that took him to at least three separate studios (Paramount was close to making the film in 2005 before a regime change put it in turnaround) until finally finding a seemingly happy ending at Warner Bros. Yet according to Fox’s lawsuit, Gordon has a standing agreement dating back to the early ’90s to buy out the studio’s interest in the project if he ever got it up and going at another company.
Gordon, who has historically been reluctant to talk about his efforts to produce a Watchmen adaptation, couldn’t be reached prior to deadline for comment. In a statement, Warner Bros. responds: “It is our company’s policy not to comment on pending litigation, and thus will not comment on the specifics of this case. That said, the Court’s ruling simply means that the parties will engage in discovery and proceed with the litigation. The judge did not opine at all on the merits, other than to conclude that Fox satisfied the pleading requirements. We respectfully disagree with Fox’s position and do not believe they have any rights in and to this project.”
News of the proceeding lawsuit comes just days after Warner Bros. decided to shore up its 2009 slate—anchored by Watchmen and a new Terminator movie—by moving Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from fall 2008 to next summer. Make of that what you will.
As they say in the comics: to be continued…
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Aw well. Perhaps it’s simply not meant to be a movie. They’ve been trying since the ’80s. I would love to see the movie. It’s a bit odd that Twentieth Century Fox would have distribution rights, as Watchmen was by DC (owned by Warner).
That’s what I was thinking. DC bought this story out decades ago. And I wonder why Fox would wait until AFTER they finished filming/production to file this kind of lawsuit. Maybe they were waiting to see how good it would be before deciding to go ahead with a lawsuit? Oh well, once again the greedy few take control of art in order to satiate their own small lives.
I hope Alan Moore is having a laugh at this!
but the movie is already made.the trailer is out there, at the comic con was wildly talked about.what can the fans of the book expect from this?no movie release at all?that would be a cause for a revolution!now if you don’t mind i’m gonna call up my friend Dr Manhattan and have him teleport the Fox exects to Uranus!
Fox? Acting evil?
OMG… that’s hard to believe!
I smell countersuit for malicious prosecution… Fox had to know that they were making this movie for months now… why wait until the opposing studio had spent so much money in production if not to ruin them financially?
Shady business.
Who knows if Fox even knew that the movie was in actual production. To assume they knew all of that information and deliberately waited to file suit is stretch.
Fox is being greedy-(ier)
I mean how do they not know it was being made. Hollywood lawyers look for this stuff all the time in preproduction to earn their high paychecks.
lame FOX. really lame.
If Fox didn’t know this was in production, they were the only people in Hollywood who didn’t know. Studios are very much aware of what major films their competitors have in the works.
It doesn’t matter at all. If the movie is anything like the comic….it’s gonna suck. The comic was the worst thing i have ever read. Seriously boring. Seriously having no point.
Thank God somebody is putting a halt to this abortion of an adaptation… Call me a stick in the mud, but being a die hard fan of Watchmen for many years, I’d rather not see it mangled on the big screen by Snyder’s talentless practices of slow-mo overload. Let it simmer in court for years, I say.
To Dismiss: you’re being funny, right? If not, defend yourself, because you might be the only person in the world who feels that way. And Krinkles: “abortion”? Seriously?!
Seriously. It was boring. Worst comic that i have read. In fact, everyone keeps calling it the “greatest superhero comic of all time” and yet
there are NO superheroes in it at all!
It’s just my opinion. I didn’t like it at all. Maybe it IS just me.
poetic justice i say ….the greedy got caught looking by the greedy-er….they pushed harry potter and angered and saddend all their fans and now they might not get watchmen out …karma …boy do I love it
Boring comic? No Superheros in it? My friend you don’t know what a superhero is, being a hero has nothing to do with powers and everything to with character.
Now Fox may have the rights to distribution but sitting on a movie that could potentialy be a blockbuster of the Month it gets released is just greedy and a slap in the face to the cosumers who shell $20 a person just to see most of the crap Fox puts out every year.
This movie will hit it’s release date. To think it won’t is not looking at the bigger picture. Money will change hands and the lawsuit will be dropped. There’s too much money to be made for it not to come out. I don’t usually comment on trolls but, “boring”? “Superhero comic with no superheroes”? While entitled to your own opinion, you didn’t really read the book or what it was trying to do with the genre.
WB attempted to stop the lawsuit after the initial pleadings were filed. In court, for a pleading to be sufficient, it must merely demonstrate a cause of action – a very low threshold. Once the parties engage in discovery, WB will move for summary judgment and the case will be terminated early on – that is, if they don’t settle before then. So, while Fox wins round 1, it is only a small battle that only allows the war to be fought.
As for why Fox would wait until now, yeah, they could have filed earlier, but, from a litigation standpoint, why would they? Let WB spend the money and then attack to bring them to the bargaining table. Unfortunately, WB left themselves open to this and Fox took full advantage of it.
Krinkles, while I respect your thoughts on the subject much the same as I do Alan Moore’s, I am excited to see the take. Zack Snyder has always been a fan of Watchmen and has defended it’s accuracy with his every breath. Dismiss, I don’t understand how you can call it boring. It’s not meant to be a “superhero” novel in the traditional sense, but in the sense that they are real people who are heroes. And I think that the distinction of best superhero story of all time came when it was named to the 100 Greatest Novels of all Time, the only graphic novel to hold such a distinction. To put it bluntly, yes, it is just you.
Seriously, this project has been dogged by controversy and drama since the beginning. As for it’s merits as media, it is one the best stories that I have ever read, comic or otherwise. Moore’s characters are unflinchingly real and unforgettable. If you are looking for a rocking superhero tale with fights and explosions then this is not the movie or Graphic Novel you are looking for, please leave it alone. I have hope for this movie, but I await it with trepidation. Warner owns DC comics and that means they own the rights to Watchmen, they always have. If this case goes through our courts there is something seriously wrong with America that can not be fixed.
While I don’t think Watchmen is the Greatest Comic Evar, it’s mighty great. Anyone who doesn’t understand that is simply commenting on their own intelligence. It is certainly the most influential modern superhero comic, and rightly so; and the densely interwoven layers of the story have influenced creators in media far beyond comics.
I thought it was unfilmable, like Dune is, due to its complexity. But the idea of moving some of the subplots (the comic within the comic, etc) into separate mini-films, to be released on DVD when the movie is on screen and then re-edited into a long Director’s Cut, is one of the cleverest ideas for such an adaptation I’ve ever heard. It preserves the integrity of the story and yet makes the theatrically released film watchably short. This news, and the trailer, have made me at least provisionally hopeful.
Next up, Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of “Promethea” <– a little Alan Moore humor for the hardcore fans
Shoutout to Jeff J, rocking the comment boards!
I’m going to sit back and wait for the idiots who have never read or heard of Watchmen to claim it ripped off “Heroes” 1st season. When I read some deranged Milo Ventimiglia fan girl say this on another site I just had to roll my eyes. Anyhow, now we see why WB moved Harry. Just in case this got ugly. And hopefully FOX doesn’t prevent this from being released, because I will start a Wolverine boycott online if they do. I admire Zach Snyder’s skill. The Dawn of the Dead remake is an underrated piece of action horror that I enjoyed a lot. And while 300 lacked the depth of a film like Gladiator, it was still impressive from a technical/visual standpoint. And the trailer for Watchmen with the Smashing Pumpkins song give me friggin goosebumps.
The only reason fox is so upset is because they realize or feel that this movie is going to be a hit. Now they are pissed they didn’t jump on it earlier. If it looked like it was going to flop they probably wouldn’t even raise a finger.
While I don’t totally agree with Dismiss, I do understand what he’s talking about. I read the book last summer — ’cause I’m trying to discover graphic novels/comics — and wasn’t all that thrilled about it either, but maybe that’s because in it’s inception that was an original idea, and now everybody’s taken that concept and made it their own. Then again, while I like superhero movies, I’m not a superhero comic fan. Gimme Fables, Y Last Man, and Bone anyday. Still, I was looking forward to seeing this on the big screen. It was looking like a great adaption.
I was also wondering if fanboys would start boycotting Fox if they actually manage to win… but I don’t see it.
RegularGal, your comment is perceptive – Watchmen is so influential that its influence has almost become invisible. At the time it came out it was unlike anything that came before, but now, there are whole generations of excellent writers who have come of age with Watchmen as part of the foundational literature.
Your taste is good – Bone lost me at the end, but its “Pogo Possum meets Tolkien” look and feel were great. Fables is brilliant, and Y has its moments, tho I don’t put it on the top shelf. For me, as the alltimers, I’ll take Sandman, with Ramadan as the very best; the middle 3/4s of the Invisibles; the Tantra, Tree of Life and Tarot issues of Promethea; and any single randomly chosen large-size panel from any issue of Transmetropolitan.
Superheroes are fundamentally either silly or a scary fascist fantasy, which is of course the point of Watchmen – the less you like superheroes, the better it is, really.
sounds to me like fox doesnt want warner bros to have another winning at the box office next summer like they do now with the dark knight……
Wow, I hate Fox even more now.
I agree with Dismiss. I don’t see what all the hype is about Watchmen. 1 ’superhero’ deciding to go loco and play G*d, betraying his ‘friends’ and what it means to be a hero/superhero. What sub-plot?
WATCHMEN (the movie’s) biggest obstacle to success is that the concepts introduced in the original novel have been copied and expanded upon for an entire generation.
Having just finished the GN moments ago, I am extremely disappointed by this news…but I absolutely loved the book. I never quite realized how much of a rip-off the first season of Heroes was until I read this. Like most are saying, I’m guessing Fox just wants money since they are being destroyed at the box office this year, which they’ll get and the movie will show as scheduled.