Warner Bros., Fox in Legal Wrangling Over 'Watchmen'

Warner Bros., which has been riding high this year thanks in large part to The Dark Knight, received some potentially bad news today, when a judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought by rival studio 20th Century Fox over the rights to make a film adaptation of Watchmen. Variety reports that, through a confusing set of circumstances, Fox has retained their original rights even after a 1994 turnaround for the project with producer Larry Gordon. At the time, Fox was to receive a buyout amount plus a cut of the profits if a movie was ever made. Fox has never received any cash, and this is where it gets dicey for Warner Bros. One very messy solution is Fox attempting to block the release of the film in March of next year. They have, apparently, already filed a motion for an injunction to that effect. More than likely, though, Fox and WB will agree to a financial deal that would allow Fox to essentially sit back and let WB make the best movie they can, waiting for the truck of money to show up. Cinematical points out that Warners was in a similar situation with The Dukes of Hazzard, although if they had played that one smart, the studio would have made the movie then forced people to pay them to keep it from being released. Not only would that venture have made them more money then, they'd probably still have some reserves to help pay off Fox now. I'm not sure the release of Watchmen is really going to be threatened; studios tend to need each other from time to time and if there's a way to just siphon some of the profits - which I'm personally not sure Fox is entitled to at this point (the judge clearly disagrees) - then the lure of money will probably be enough to settle this.