Slashdot Mirror
Watchmen Delayed, Or Worse
whisper_jeff writes "Due to some potential copyright issues, The Watchmen might be delayed, or worse. It seems that Fox claims it still owns copyrights which would prevent Warner Bros from releasing the movie. US District Court Judge Gary Feess decided that Fox had enough of a case that he's willing to hear things out. The geek in me hopes that it will be resolved quickly and the movie will hit theaters on time."
That this isn't just Fox claiming to own the superhero genre or something. I seem to recall them trying to claim the same thing with.. I think the show was Mutant-X, though there their claims seemed to be at least a little more valid.
Maybe they did and just wanted to keep it to themselves after the trailers circulated for a bit.. build the hype before making demands?
Unless Fox learned of this production through said hype, Warner could use this as evidence of Fox's prejudicial delay. It's probably not enough for estoppel by laches, but it might convince the judge to rule less favorably to Fox. But aren't Fox Warner's attorneys anyway?
They did, but if you show your hand early enough, the project is simply scrapped and you don't get any money. You have to wait until the project is all but released (with tons of money already spent) before you come forward with your claims, as that way the choice becomes "Buy us off with some of the money or lose *everything*."
The only item of significance here is that apparently Fox is asking for a large enough amount of money that WB sees fit to argue the point in court instead of just paying and being done with it. It is likely, then, that Fox believes the movie will perform better than WB believes it will perform, as that would be the basis for the amount they demanded versus the amount WB would be willing to pay.
Basically, then, this is just business as usual, and the headlines are simply being used by either side to try to put more pressure on the opposing side. In the end, the movie will certainly be released. If WB wins the case, Fox should have asked for a smaller windfall. If Fox wins the case, WB should've settled for the earlier Fox offer. Someone loses (maybe both do), but we don't have to care.
None of this "or worse" crap. We all know it's about the money. Fox won't do anything that doesn't make them money, and for them to make money, they need this movie to be released. With Fox as partners, of course.
Watch the Teaser Trailer for "The Lightning Thief" Her
They dont own the rights though, they own the rights to EVERYTHING THIS ONE PRODUCER MAKES. Basically they claimed that anything this producer, produces is Fox property, even AFTER killing the guys hopes of working at fox. They did this one before with Dukes of Hazzard and got 17 mill out of it. they are doing it again with Watchmen now.
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
Allow Warner Bros to release the movie into theatres on the promise that Warner show a bunch of trailers for Fox movies. I'm pretty sure a similar thing happened regarding Austin Powers, but I could be wrong.
Summation 2
If it is the same character, in the same type of scenario, it is still under copyright. I just wish that the law were more lenient or that copyright law wouldn't extend through the better part of a century.
http://www.allen-poole.com/
Yeah, I guess five years of SCO vs the universe demonstrates that.
Is that what happened here? Did Alan Moore sign away the movie rights to Fox, then turn around and sell them to Warner? Did Warner not do their "due diligence" and have thier lawyers review all relevant documents before entering in to a business relationship with the author? Did they *just* find out that Fox believes they own the rights to the property now, when the movie is already shot?
I agree with you that these issues can sometimes be cloudy - the SCO example again really illustrates this. But I think it is laughable that it got this far without anyone noticing that there may be a question as to whether or not they had the right to make the movie in the first place. Either Fox is lying, Alan Moore withheld information from Warner, or the Warner lawyers didn't do a very thorough job.
I don't care why you're posting AC
Do the Authors want the movie made - Yes
...
Do the Authors want the movie released - Yes
Does copyright law allow this to happen - No
Conclusion copyright law is broken because the authors have lost control of their IP
Well you're wrong twice, but luckily for you two wrongs in this case do make a right.
... although I'm willing to give it a pass this time because I want the movie to be made and released.
Does the Author want the movie made - No
Does the Author want the movie released - No
Does copyright law allow this to happen - Yes
Conclusion copyright law is broken because the author has lost control of their IP
Fox doesn't want to shut down the movie. Hiring lawyers to pursue this in court is, from the perspective of an executive, a business decision. It wouldn't be done unless there was a profit to be made.
So, where's the profit? There are two possibilities.
1) Fox is planning on releasing their own "Watchmen" film, and they want theirs to debut first.
This is an unlikely scenario. The Watchmen is not a well-known mainstream franchise and if they had already started production, we'd probably have heard of it. If they haven't started production yet, then the businessmen are probably more interested in scenario 2, since it has a guaranteed return (guaranteeing a return on investment is important in business. Yes, this includes lawyer fees, and everything else).
2) Fox sees that they can get a portion of royalties or a settlement from WB for the licensing rights they're entitled to.
This is the most likely scenario. Fox will show that they own the copyright, WB will be up shit creek without a paddle because they've produced a movie they aren't legally entitled to release, and then WB will settle out-of-court with Fox for 10% of the royalties, or $20 million, or something similar. My prediction is that we'll see the movie eventually, but there is a possibility that it will be delayed due to proceedings (however, WB will have a great incentive to settle before the theatrical release date, Fox probably realizes this). There is also a distinct possibility that the producer will not enjoy as much of the profits as they would have.
But we will still get our movie. Of course, depending on the nature of the settlement, you may want to boycott the box office in order to minimize Fox's profit (they are, after all, peddlers of pedantic mind-rotting boob-tube junk).