One of the most anticipated comic book adaptations of the year is in the midst of a nasty court battle. Last year, Warner Bros. began shooting Watchmen, director Zack Snyder’s $100 million adaptation of the comic book that has been widely hailed as the greatest superhero story ever created. But did the studio even have the right to make the movie at all?
In February of 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., holds 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 battle.
The central figure in this complicated saga is Larry Gordon (Die Hard, Field of Dreams), a veteran producer who must have known what he was doing when he began trying to bring Watchmen to the screen 17 years ago - a bitter 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 settling 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.
Fox’s accusations against its rival studio include copyright infringement, interference with contract and breach of contract.
This is definitely not looking good for the film’s release!
[...] Read more about the lawsuit here. [...]
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