Wednesday
17Dec2008
'Watchmen' Trial Pushed Back Two Weeks
Wednesday, December 17, 2008 at 6:35AM
The trial over
Watchmen is still on this January, but rather
than commencing on January 6th, it's been pushed back two weeks to January 20th.
Judge Gary Allen Feess set the new date Monday, saying he's required to
adjudicate a criminal trial on the 6th. Uh oh...did someone steal more of O.J.'s
memorabilia?
Here's the tricky part, which Variety explains far better than I could:
"Fox's suit, filed in February, contends that it retains distribution rights to the graphic novel penned by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. It asserts that Gordon's option to acquire Fox's remaining interest in Watchmen was never exercised, thereby leaving Fox with its rights under a 1994 turnaround agreement."
Judge Feess said on Monday that he wouldn't make a pre-trial summary judgment, even though both Fox and Warners wanted him to, because the contracts under dispute are so open to interpretation that only a trial can sort it out properly.
At stake, at least potentially, are distribution rights, the March 6th release date and lots and lots of money. Warner Bros. doesn't want that, and Fox shouldn't want that, either, for two reasons. If a long trial keeps the film from opening on time and Fox wins, then suddenly, it's picking up less money because of the shuffled release date. If it turns out that Fox loses and Warner is left holding the short end of the stick, then Fox will be the bad guy because it undercut a competitor by tying up the legal system.
Why this couldn't be sorted out through arbitration over the last few months is beyond me. But let's just hope it ends quickly and positively.
Reader Comments