Fox Vows To Stop Warner's "Watchmen" Release

LOS ANGELES — An attorney for 20th Century Fox says the studio will press its case to delay the release of "Watchmen," but a rival studio says it plans to release the film as scheduled.

U.S. District Court Judge Gary Feess last week agreed with Fox that Warner Bros. had infringed its copyright by developing and shooting the superhero flick, casting some doubt on its March 6 release date.

Feess said Monday he plans to hold a trial Jan. 20 to decide remaining issues.

Fox claims it never fully relinquished story rights for the graphic novel from its deal made in the late 1980s, and sued Warner Bros. in February. Warner Bros. contended Fox isn't entitled to distribution.

Warner Bros. said in a statement released Monday afternoon that it won't move the movie's release date and still thinks it will win the case, either at trial or through an appeal.

Comments

[stagebandman]

Oh, please. Who owns 20th Centrury Fox? That's right, Rupert Murdoch. Who doesn't give a whit about what's right or wrong? Ditto. And who will do anything to line his bulging pockets with more money? You guessed it. For a chance to profit from a movie that he had absolutely no part of, well, why would we assume any different? If he does happen to get this movie pulled, delayed or changed, a general boycott of all things Fox may be in order. That means no movies, no TV, no dvds, no Wall Street journal, no My Space, no Direct TV, nothing connected to this egomaniac. Time for us to act as real consumers and not let this continue.

[3rdCitizen]

Who knows whether this is good or bad? From the previews, they certainly got the look of Watchmen right, but then they also got the look of V for Vendetta right & then decided to dumb down the story, throw away all of the deeper philosophical issues (fascism vs. anarchism), & tack on a REALLY stupid ending. If Watchmen is indefinitely delayed, I'll feel frustrated because it might actually be good. But if Fox loses & the movie opens as scheduled, I'll probably be disgusted at how they once again decided that movie audiences aren't smart enough to deal with multi-layered stories & complex characters. After all, "it's just a comic book."
Maybe Alan Moore is right -- cinema may be a bad medium for graphic novels.

[getoffthecross]

But where does OUR clock stand?

[getoffthecross]

(In case the other comment doesn't get approved...)

...there is something weird about Watchmen snippets in the background of my life while the stock market slowly implodes, the job market dives like a California mudslide, Russia starts puffing Its chest again and Israel and Hammas are back in a cage match. I wonder where OUR clock strikes currently?

[FogBelter]

"Watchmen" has so many layers to it I'm not sure a film could do it justice.

[ColoradoDan]

You are right. It would take a 10 hour mini-series to do it justice ... at least. All the background levels and such. Greatest graphic novel of all time.

Alan Moore ... pure genius.

[cantstopme2019]

He is the only superhero they should make a movie for without any legal b.s.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coyote2012/3151549905/

[stagebandman]

Just stop it, please.

[TheBlackCat]

Am I the only comic geek here who loved the trailer?

I love Watchmen, the graphic novel, and I know the movie can't compete. But I still think it looks great, over use of slow motion aside. I think James Lee Early is fantastic for Rorsharch. And the trailers looked very true to the comic.

Movies are never as good as the books, I think with the singular exception of "the Princess Bride" which I believe was just as good...but that was because the screenwriter was the book writer.

I would have preferred Watchmen with a different director- Guilermo Del Torro would have been my top pick- but I'm still looking forward to it, and loved the previews.

[Progress08]

I think the only way they could make it without having to make it 8 hours long is to just "assume" the audience will get (or is with someone who'll get) many of the smaller references. The comedian is the best antagonist of all time.

[Mikepdx]

Hope it's not as bad as the Miracleman debacle.

[PaxMundis]

Oh, cripes.. don't remind me... If you have a dispute involving Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, AND Todd MacFarlane, you're in for trouble. Throw in Dave Sim and it would probably go nuclear.

[getoffthecross]

HA! "He doesn't love you, he just wants all your money!"

[PaxMundis]

I just noticed the date of the trial: January 20, inauguration day.

It's official: the internet will melt down on January 20, 2009. I'd backup your files before then.

[JLRoberson]

Hm, 2 days before my birthday.

[JLRoberson]

The film is cursed. There's a lesson: never screw over a British writer who practices magic.

[PaxMundis]

Glycon smiles on the judge's decision.

[KEMLoyola]

It's interesting to note that the judge in this case, Feess, also forced Warner to settle with a Georgia producer over the "Dukes of Hazzard" movie, by issuing an injunction against the release of the film, on the grounds that the producer's 1974 film "Moonrunners" inspired the TV show.

So Fox couldn't have found a better judge for their side.

[HARVIN]

"No sweat,man.I'll watch Saw 4 again on DVD." Joe Six Pack

[Ouroboros]

Fox might be doing the world a favor. From the looks of the trailer, every shot in the movie is in slow motion. And from what the director's been telling people, Warner Bros. has been intent on making him shrink the movie into something even less faithful to the book than before. Also, no "alien" at the end? What?

[JLRoberson]

That last sentence...

Okay, this will suck and I don't think I want it to soil my eyes.

I hate the way bad adaptations can make great works become ordinary. The film of 300 did that.

[getoffthecross]

Puh-leaze. 300 was NOT a great work LONG before the film came along. Most of Sin City is pretty mediocre. And I think the Spirit has outed Miller for the overblown egomaniac he really is.

This is the one good shot we have of seeing Watchmen in the framework of cinema. It's not going to be perfect. Watchmen itself isn't perfect. But I honestly never thought I would see a movie based on this work in my lifetime, and it's done so let's see it already!

Fox blocking the rights of Warner, who effectively published the title to begin with, is like Judith Miller going to jail over her "integrity." Something's fishy.

And, besides, there is something weird about Watchmen snippets in the background of my life while the stock market slowly implodes, the job market dives like a California mudslide, Russia starts puffing Its chest again and Israel and Hammas are back in a chokehold. I wonder where our clock strikes right now?

[Bitsko]

Looks more like Fox and Warner are working together to get as much free publicity as they can. Noting like a little controversy to boost the box office.

[jbeach]

Don't see what the benefit is for Fox, though. I think they want to stop Warmer from making money. Why else wait this long, but to try and sock Warner with a big-budget flick and no profits?

[TaxTheRichNow]

This intellectual property mania will kill our culture. Copyright, Trademark, Patent, Trade Secret, Classification --- all these forms of information control have been amped up to insane levels. What we are witnessing is the Theft of the Intellectual Commons. To learn more, check out Robert Laughlin's book "The Crime of Reason". Or almost anything by Lawrence Lessig.

[BlackJAC]

Spoken like someone who has never created anything worth paying money for.

[Ryker04]

Or someone that downloads all his stuff from the net for free.

[JLRoberson]

That's got nothing to do with it. This is about the wages of theft.

WATCHMEN is a property that DC Comics basically tricked its writer, Alan Moore, out of the rights to back in the late 80s. It's partly because of this that Moore won't take any money from films of properties he doesn't own outright. Ever since they've been trying to get it to the screen and it's been a total mess every time. This is just another part of that.

Which should show Time/Warner/DC that there's such a thing as karma.
If Moore had not signed those stupid contracts when he was younger and not as knowledgable, this would be a very, very different story.

BTW, without copyright the corps would win anyway because then success would go to the one that could distribute and promote the best. So your idea that IP is evil is asinine. It's an individual creator's only protection against the corporations, if anything. It's too bad the corps can use it too, but there you go. I'm a comics creator and not for a second would I just leave my stuff for anyone to make their own version of. It's that lack of imagination and "collage thinking," whatever good it's created, that has led to the creative desert we are now. Enough recycling. Make something new. And if you can't, then you're not supposed to be a creator, sorry.

[BlackJAC]

Considering DC Comics scammed the creators of Superman into relinquishing all rights in perpetuity, this isn't surprising.

In all seriousness, there's no such thing as an original storyline anymore. All you can really do is take something that's already been done and tweak it in one fashion or another. Batman is based on Zorro, Iron Man was inspired by Howard Hughes, the Hulk is Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Captain Kirk has some Horatio Hornblower in him, the Joker comes from the Gwynplaine character in THE MAN WHO LAUGHS (right down to the mouth scars in THE DARK KNIGHT compliments of THE BLACK DAHLIA), and pretty much every comic book hero is derived from the Golem of Prague.