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Tuesday
02Sep2008

'Watchmen' Trial To Begin January 6th

DateTuesday, September 2, 2008 at 10:45PM
There could be hope for a timely Watchmen release, after all. Sources close to the bizarre tug of war between Fox, who owned the film rights to Watchmen way back when (and maintains that, to a certain extent, it still does), and Warner Bros., who is producing the film without Fox's involvement, told the New York Times this weekend that Warner wanted an April court date and Fox wanted a June hearing. Neither of those things would help the film or its fans, since it was scheduled for a March opening.

Variety is reporting tonight that a Los Angeles federal judge has set a January 6th trial date, which is good news and bad news. The bad news is that it gives this expensive pissing match very little time to settle out of court, finding something that's amenable to both studios. The good news is that the court date is exactly two months before the film's scheduled release, which means there's time to resolve everything and keep the film on track.

Judge Gary Allen Feess discussed the matter with attorneys Tuesday, and settled on the January trial date that gives the court enough time for deposition proceedings.

It's a shame it had to come to this, but I guess Fox is not simply looking for a payday. What's interesting about this case is that Judge Feess is the same guy who filed an injunction blocking the release of Dukes of Hazzard, until Warner Bros. coughed up a couple million bucks to pay off a producer who had filed a claim of infringement against the studio. I'm just speculating, but I would imagine Fox is probably fighting for chunks of merchandising and home video, things that bring in a ton of money for a movie with this kind of profile.

While Warner Bros. stands to be a pretty big loser in this whole thing, if the movie does get pushed back, the real losers will be the millions of fans dying to finally see this movie.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | CommentPost a Comment |

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