Watchmen Update

[thedarkangel1975]

Looks like if no settlement between the studios is made, The film may be delayed until 2010 or beyond.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news08/081228b.php

[Penitus]

Wow, thanks Fox. You bought the rights to a picture and did NOTHING with it for 20 years. Then when the company who owns the rights to all DC stuff actually makes it, you waited until they were done filming before you decided to sue.

Compare Warner's Superhero films to Fox's...would anyone say Fantastic Four is better than Dark Knight?

[thedarkangel1975]

Well technically you can't sue until you are about to make money. Warner Brothers was warned by fox, yet they still shot the movie. it is like you writing a book and me making a movie about the book without your permission. I can do whatever I want until I am about to make money. The person that should be in trouble is the Warner rep or Zac Snyder for not securing the rights before starting the project.

[icecream]

From a fan perspective, I don't give a toss about Fox and this lawsuit, I just want to see Zack's movie. If this goes on any further, and the movie is delayed, I will officially hate Fox. I don't care if they're right or wrong, I just want to see the movie I've been waiting for. Is that TOO MUCH to ask for?

[tacoreed]

Movie studios blow goats. Watchmen Rule.

[fighthefutureofhd]

Originally Posted by thedarkangel1975

Well technically you can't sue until you are about to make money. Warner Brothers was warned by fox, yet they still shot the movie. it is like you writing a book and me making a movie about the book without your permission. I can do whatever I want until I am about to make money. The person that should be in trouble is the Warner rep or Zac Snyder for not securing the rights before starting the project.

agreed. if anything people should be harping on warner.

Originally Posted by icecream

From a fan perspective, I don't give a toss about Fox and this lawsuit, I just want to see Zack's movie. If this goes on any further, and the movie is delayed, I will officially hate Fox. I don't care if they're right or wrong, I just want to see the movie I've been waiting for. Is that TOO MUCH to ask for?

again, fox is not to blame. fox is only doing the right thing in protecting their rights. if blame is to go anywhere then blame warner and the director. they're the ones who have screwed the "fans" over. stop hating on fox. besides it's just a movie. if it never gets released then so be it.

[icecream]

Originally Posted by fighthefutureofhd

again, fox is not to blame. fox is only doing the right thing in protecting their rights. if blame is to go anywhere then blame warner and the director. they're the ones who have screwed the "fans" over. stop hating on fox. besides it's just a movie. if it never gets released then so be it.

Without the technicalities, I couldn't care less who is right or wrong in this circumstance. From a business standpoint, it's obviously the right decision for Fox to file the suit, but from my standpoint and a fan interest, it's just absurd that it's pretty much been in development for years (dispite the confusion), and just as it's about to materalize, it's halted.

[andyman1970]

I'm thinking Warner and Paramount will cut Fox in for 1/3 just so they can get this movie out. With all the hype surrounding it, especially thanks to the law suit this could end up being the biggest movie of 2009 or the biggest flop. That is if people get sick of hearing about it and decide not to go see it just out of spite.

[thedarkangel1975]

Fox will get more than a 1/3 imho

[Nycguy84]

I'm very disappointed that Watchmen might get delayed from it's March release. I am very looking forward to seeing it, it would have been a great buffer before the summer movies come out from May & beyond.

Some previous comments analyze how much better Warner Bros. comic movies are vs. Fox. Let's not blow Warner Bros. b/c they let Christopher Nolan make two great movies.

Fox is not going to rail road a guaranteed 200 mil. (domestic) & 400 mil. (worldwide) hit. Remember Watchmen isn't a guarantee in the slightest. It's a 20+ yr old comic book not part of a franchise which has only been introduced to mainstream readers after the movie announcement & the subsequent trailer for it. Expectations are high for it but it's no Spiderman or The Dark Knight guarantee for it. And it's rated R so 300 million is really over estimating what it will gross.

Hoping for Watchmen sometime in 2009.

[Memnoch71]

Fox has only been granted the rights to distribute the film, I don't think Paramount has anything to do with the film anymore so they won't be getting anything from this.( I believe that's where all of this started from was the fact that when Paramount optioned it from Fox, the production group had the right to pay for a continuance of the rights which they claimed to do, but there is no record of it. Then WB bought the rights from that Production group who had never sent in the payment to Fox for the option.) Right now it seems that Fox has released a statement that they want to get this settled in time for Watchmen to meet it's original 03/06/09 release date. It's just a matter of the two sides reaching a equitable settlement.

I believe we will never see the actual details of the settlement, but it should go something like this. WB gets a certain percentage of all Box Office take(Say 70%) untill it recoups it's budget and then the percentages swing back in Fox's favor say a 60-40 split for Fox once it becomes all profit. This way Fox still makes money even if the film never even makes back it's budget (Which is very unlikely from what I've seen). If it turns out to be a big hit, both WB and Fox both make a profit.

The worst thing for either side to do is to delay this from it's anticipated release date. It decreases the chances of either of them seeing any kind of return on the property and let's face it, these are corporations, they are in the business to make money. If they were in the movie business just to make good movies they'd be called Indedendent Film Makers, not studios.

[anomynous]

Warner actually owns the property, so I don't see why there's a problem

[dvd_mazter]

This is terrible. I can't stand it when corparate junk gets in the way of a film. Seriously the only reason Fox even did this lawsuit is because of all the hype the film is getting. I'm sure if it was "The Spirit", Fox wouldn't care. I feel bad for Snyder and crew, they work so hard and now they have to suffer through this crap.

Excuse my rant but these kinda things always get me mad.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by Nycguy84

I'm very disappointed that Watchmen might get delayed from it's March release. I am very looking forward to seeing it, it would have been a great buffer before the summer movies come out from May & beyond.

Some previous comments analyze how much better Warner Bros. comic movies are vs. Fox. Let's not blow Warner Bros. b/c they let Christopher Nolan make two great movies.

Fox is not going to rail road a guaranteed 200 mil. (domestic) & 400 mil. (worldwide) hit. Remember Watchmen isn't a guarantee in the slightest. It's a 20+ yr old comic book not part of a franchise which has only been introduced to mainstream readers after the movie announcement & the subsequent trailer for it. Expectations are high for it but it's no Spiderman or The Dark Knight guarantee for it. And it's rated R so 300 million is really over estimating what it will gross.

Hoping for Watchmen sometime in 2009.

Exactly, this is posturing at best by Fox to get as big a piece of the pie as possible. I doubt the movie gets released even one week later than the current listed date. The lawsuit will be in the news for the next three months anyway as a way to promote the movie itself (yes studio marketing types are shameless like that).

[CptGreedle]

From what this says, it looks like they are most likely going to make a deal. Neither company wants to lose money, and FOX has forced WB to lose some one way or another. So instead of taking a complete loss, WB is more likely going to give FOX some portion of the profit so that they can both make money. (Even though FOX does NOT deserve a penny!)
I don't agree that you can't sue unless you are about to make money. What determines the criteria for "about to make money"? I believe you can sue anyone that has acted upon something they did not have the rights to. You can sue even if they make no money from it. (I could be wrong about this, but I know they could have sued earlier either way, I mean the point of filming a movie is to make money, regardless of what stage the filming is in). But either way, they are suing them now and that means that WB and FOX have to settle or risk losing a lot more money.
FOX has already lost face with me, after pulling this kind of stunt and going to court and demanding that they pull the movie.
I think that this WILL delay the movie, but that they will also strike a deal.

We will most likely see this released in the summer or fall of 2009.

[Crim122]

I will be very pissed if it is not released next year, beacuse my buddy gave me the book for Christmas and I finished it in a day and I was so stoked for the movie...then I heard about all this

[CasualKiller]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

From what this says, it looks like they are most likely going to make a deal. Neither company wants to lose money, and FOX has forced WB to lose some one way or another. So instead of taking a complete loss, WB is more likely going to give FOX some portion of the profit so that they can both make money. (Even though FOX does NOT deserve a penny!)
I don't agree that you can't sue unless you are about to make money. What determines the criteria for "about to make money"? I believe you can sue anyone that has acted upon something they did not have the rights to. You can sue even if they make no money from it. (I could be wrong about this, but I know they could have sued earlier either way, I mean the point of filming a movie is to make money, regardless of what stage the filming is in). But either way, they are suing them now and that means that WB and FOX have to settle or risk losing a lot more money.
FOX has already lost face with me, after pulling this kind of stunt and going to court and demanding that they pull the movie.
I think that this WILL delay the movie, but that they will also strike a deal.

We will most likely see this released in the summer or fall of 2009.

Here's the problem:

Fox owns the movie rights to the graphic novel.

WB announces it's making a Watchmen movie, Fox warns them to be careful, they own the rights to the graphic novel.

No one hears anything for some time.

Next thing you know you have movie previews everywhere, and guess what, even though WB was warned before production, they followed the graphic novel to a T. Electing to do exactly what is happening now, fight it out in court and release the movie anyway.

If anything I have lost respect for WB, it sends a message to all when a media giant chooses to crap on the law.

[Afrobean]

Originally Posted by thedarkangel1975

Well technically you can't sue until you are about to make money. Warner Brothers was warned by fox, yet they still shot the movie. it is like you writing a book and me making a movie about the book without your permission. I can do whatever I want until I am about to make money. The person that should be in trouble is the Warner rep or Zac Snyder for not securing the rights before starting the project.

Actually, the problem comes upon distribution, not when you start making income. For example. if I rip off Spider-man and give away my own comic for free, Marvel could still sue me.

As soon as Warner Bros. started putting out trailers and promotional material, that's when Fox should have sued, at least speaking of the matter in that way.

And actually, you can sue whenever you want for whatever reason you want. If it's not legitimate, it would get thrown out by the courts, but you can file whatever stupid lawsuits you might want for literally any reason.

Anyway, my feeling is that squatters shouldn't have any right. If they're not going to make use of the property, they have no right refusing the right of another individual or group (I mean, they DO have LEGAL right, I mean they don't have moral right). This applies to all things everywhere. You know, there are companies that buy up patents and just sit on them, waiting for someone to make something similar, so they can sue them and make money that way. That's REALLY messed up.

[P@t_Mtl]

Release or not my life will go on. I feel sorry for those that work on the movie if it get's delayed. If it get's release I will go see it, if it's deleayed no big deal I can wait for it. I got bigger things to worry about than this.

[Beast]

Originally Posted by thedarkangel1975

Well technically you can't sue until you are about to make money. Warner Brothers was warned by fox, yet they still shot the movie. it is like you writing a book and me making a movie about the book without your permission. I can do whatever I want until I am about to make money. The person that should be in trouble is the Warner rep or Zac Snyder for not securing the rights before starting the project.

Exactly. Fox made WB aware ahead of time that they had a claim.

It's WB's fault for ignoring and attempting to get away with it.

I fully support Fox getting what they're owed. Even if it causes the movie to be delayed.