The L.A. Times has a lengthy and in-depth article on the ongoing, 20th Century Fox Vs. Warner Bros. legal battle over “Watchmen” – the lawsuit of which is due in courts January 6, 2009.
We haven’t had time to really parse the article (LAT calls it a “super battle”) however, one quote jumped out at us immediately.
“They are not just fighting over ‘Watchmen,’ ” entertainment attorney Mel Avanzado, who is not involved in the litigation, said of the duel between Fox and Warners. “They are also fighting over sequel rights. Whoever controls the franchise probably controls quite a bit.”
Again, with the sequels. There is no sequel to “Watchmen” at least not one written by the comic creator, Alan Moore. Hell, even the cast and director (Zack Snyder) have said it’d be pretty much impossible to do a sequel or a prequel (Snyder for one has already said he’s have nothing to do with either). Then again, this lawyer isn’t part of the case, but sequels have obviously been mentioned before. It’s a silly plan, but there’s a lot at stake and more $$ to be made.
What else is new here, well Fox is still trying to block the film’s release, and a lot of hinges on producer, Lawrence Gordon who may have not have done his legal due diligence and that could cost WB.
It’s a long read, but two more good graphs that are telling.
U.S. District Court Judge Gary Feess isn’t so [Gordon had all his ducks in a row]. In denying a Warners motion to dismiss the case last August, Feess said a key Warners argument “ignored a number of facts” and that “nothing on the face of the complaint or the documents . . . establishes that Gordon . . . ever acquired any rights in ‘Watchmen.’ “
Fox executives and lawyers point to another chain-of-title case they say proves Warners plays fast and loose with its movie rights. In a dispute before Feess over 2005’s “The Dukes of Hazzard,” Warners failed to get the underlying rights to the obscure movie (1975’s “Moonrunners”) upon which the TV show was based. Warners settled the case for $17.5 million after Feess said he would block the movie’s release.