Fox Tries To Halt Watchmen
Written by Ian Cullen on August 20, 2008 – 3:17 pm -
By Ian M. Cullen
According to Digital Spy 20th Century Fox are trying for an injunction against the pending release of Zack Snyder’s Watchmen movie – based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore.
Fox are claiming that they acquired the theatrical rights to the comic book back in 1986. The studio gave up those rights in 1991 on the understanding that they’d maintain the exclusive option to distribute the first film based on Watchmen.
Fox filed their suit against Warner Bros who are funding Watchmen back in February.
The Los Angeles court ruled last week that Fox could maintain their copyright on the comic book – meaning that they are within their rights to take legal proceedings against Warner over copyright issues pertaining to the Zack Snyder movie.
Fox spokesman Greg Brilliant said: “We will be asking the court to enforce Fox’s copyright interests in Watchmen and enjoin the release of the Warner Bros. film and any related Watchmen media that violate our copyright interests in that property.”
Scott Rowe a representative of Warner Bros – revealed that they will go forward with the case – and insisted that they still plan to show Watchmen on March 6, 2009 as advertised.
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Tags: Fox, Warner, Watchmen, Zack Snyder
Posted in Comic Book Corner, SF-TV & Movie News | 2 Comments »
By Cassie on Aug 21, 2008 | Reply
If Fox is so riled by WB’s production of The Watchmen, why didn’t they take action a couple years ago? In like circles, its certainly not a huge secret what other studios are doing, and The Watchman movie has been in the news since last year. So Fox waits until the movie is nearly release ready, has had its huge Comic Con reception, and NOW wants to sue? If the rights to the material are truly theirs and they cared that much about them, maybe they should have dug their heads out of the sand and been more pro-active. Personally, I think Fox waited for Warner Bros. to shoulder all the costs of making the film THEN sued so they could scoop them for a wad of cash. Pretty scabby, if you ask me.
By Ian Cullen on Aug 21, 2008 | Reply
I’m no legal expert – but what you say makes sense.
Lets not forget the mother or all lawsuits between Fox and Universal over Battlestar Galactica back in the 70s which went on and on.
Fact is from what I’ve read over the last few months. Watchmen is one of those projects which has been in limbo for a heck of a long time. Fact is many people believed that the comic was so big in scale that a movie adaptation would never be possible.