WATCHMEN Movie Discussion (SPOILERS allowed)!

[tomandshell]

Look how long it took the Hobbit mess to get straightened out. I have a feeling that this movie won't be coming out in March, assuming it sees the light of day at all. Warner won't sit back and turn the film over to Fox. I say we lock the two sides in a room and don't feed them until they make an agreement.

 

[CelticPredator]

Stop the press! From the WatchmenComicMovie forum

I just got off the phone with a lawyer pal, and I directed him to a lot of relevant links and such. He said that while Fox has ownership of the copyrights to Watchmen, they do not, and can not ever, have the rights to the film that WB made. That footage will forever be the property of WB and Legendary Pictures. Zack Snyder, the writers, the actors, the crew, etc. all signed contracts with WB, not Fox, so Fox can never own this movie, because they'd automatically be violating the rights of all the cast and crew involved.

 

[tomandshell]

But Warner cannot distribute the movie they have made. What's the point of owning a movie that cannot be shown to an audience? I hope they can work out a deal to share the profits.

 

[CelticPredator]

I hope Fox gets hit by a tornado..........


What?

 

[IrishJedi]

No Chicken Little just yet. All this really does is give FOX all of the leverage for the 2.5%-10% profit share they seek. It won't affect a frame of the movie, WB will still be the studio (along with Paramount and...MAYBE... Fox) and I doubt it'll be delayed at all (but if it is, that's basically the worst that will happen).

 

[CelticPredator]

https://www.sideshowcollectors.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1352441#post1352441

For mista Irish....

 

[darthviper107]

I doubt it'll be delayed, but it could mean putting the film into Fox's hands, if they have to work out a deal to get it released.

I wonder if Fox could end up having a say in the cut of the film?

 

[scubasteve]

Damn, sounds like someone should have done a little research before green lighting this.

 

[Bonehead15]

Eventhough this new ruling is bad news, hopefully the rumors about FOX using Watchmen as a means to obtain the rights for the Batman series is true.


I'd love to get a DVD/Blueray collection of Batman.

 

[Entropy]

I think IJ is right and this will be settled with no disruption to the March release date. I guess we'll know more come mid Jan or so....

 

[tomandshell]

I certainly hope so!!! I guess it's a matter of whether or not the two rival studios will decide to sit down in the next week or two and decide how to share the profits.

 

[IrishJedi]

Reading between the lines, it just breaks down like this:

- FOX had the rights in the 90s, with Lawrence Gordon producing
- Unable to find a way to make the movie, FOX passes on production
- Gordon becomes free to take the film to another studio, so long as he apparently signs some stuff at greenlight
- Gordon takes the movie to Paramount
- Paramount picks it up, Gordon gets Paul Greengrass on it
- Paramount's President changes, wants Watchmen to cost $40 million less, Greengrass balks, Paramount drops Watchmen
- FOX begins to alienate every filmmaker in the world not named Cameron or Luhrman
- Warner Bros. grabs the rights
- Zack Snyder expresses interest following 300
- Zack Snyder makes Watchmen
- FOX remembers Gordon never signed the stuff he was supposed to, needs $$$ bad, sues WB and Gordon to extort money from the movie's seeming success
- Judge declares injunction that basically says "yeah, this'll be put in front of a judge soon". It also blocks WB from shoving the release date up in front of the trial to avoid paying FOX.

 

[barbelith]

That footage will forever be the property of WB and Legendary Pictures. Zack Snyder, the writers, the actors, the crew, etc. all signed contracts with WB, not Fox, so Fox can never own this movie, because they'd automatically be violating the rights of all the cast and crew involved.

Not true at all. Studios can and do transfer ownership of movies. Happens fairly often with back catalog titles. However FOX cannot take ownership of Watchmen through court battles. Of course none of this means anything. FOX isn't going to stop the film coming out. They're just jockeying for a cut of the box office and to be perfectly blunt they're well within their rights to do so.

 

[CelticPredator]

I never said that....what the hell???


EDIT...oh wait...haha. The quote.

 

[Darth Waller]

Fox should change the O to a U because that's what they are to me now.

 

[IrishJedi]

Not afraid of this silly legal wrangling.

Here... have some WATCHMEN, South Park-style:

 

[Entropy]

Not afraid of this silly legal wrangling.

Here... have some WATCHMEN, South Park-style:

Cool. Much better than those Watchmen Bearbricks.

 

[Darth Waller]

 

[tomandshell]

That's fantastic.

 

[IrishJedi]

LEGO, not to be outdone: