Continued Legal Battle Puts ‘Watchmen’ in Jeopardy

Published by Jeff Leins on: August 19th, 2008

A federal judge denied a motion by Warner Bros to dismiss a lawsuit brought by 20th Century Fox over the rights to the graphic novel “Watchmen.”

While the denial just means court proceedings will continue, according to Nikke Finke, it’s a huge blow to WB (who plans to release Watchmen in March 2009) and a victory for Fox (who claims to still own the property).

This could put the anticipated comic book movie in jeopardy because Fox isn’t gunning for compensation, where it could stand to make millions, but wants to completely prevent it from being released.

Warners had a strong presence at Comic-Con where it got fans amped up about the faithful adaptation with clips and images resembled the pages of the 12-issue series.

“We will be asking the court to enforce Fox’s copyright interests in ‘The Watchmen’ and enjoin the release of the Warner Bros. film and any related ‘Watchmen’ media that violate our copyright interests in that property,” Fox’s legal team said in a statement. By the way, the fact that they called it THE Watchmen means they don’t deserve to own it.

The actual details are a confusing mess of contract law and legalese, so I won’t bore you with the intricate facts. I talked a bit more in detail about this in February actually, or you can try to wade through the timeline at Finke’s awful site. But basically Fox acquired it in 1986 then sat on it forever. Then they made a deal to receive compensation if it was adapted in the future. WB picked it up and set up the necessary people to make it happen. Now Fox wants to tie up a lucrative title for WB’s 2009 slate.

I, like most fans, come down on the side of WB. Fox had their chance to make the movie and after several failed attempts they let it go. WB picked it up and ran with it. Now Fox waited until the movie was filming and the marketing machine was rolling to stir up legal trouble. You missed out. Get over it. Of course, the courts will probably look at it a bit more objectively.

At the very least, a few people are so fired over at Warners. But worst case scenario is the movie could never see the light of day, a $120 million project shelved by a bunch of lawyers.