With a Los Angeles federal judge ruling that 20th Century Fox owns the distribution rights to “Watchmen,” Warner Bros. will now have to quickly come up with a deal with Fox to make the scheduled March 6th release date for the film. Paramount is lined up to handle the international release of "Watchmen."
Judge's ruling could delay "Watchmen" release date.
Judge Gary Allen Feess has ruled Fox owns the distribution rights to "Watchmen," according to Variety.
Judge Feess ruled: "Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the 'Watchmen' motion picture,"
A week after setting the Jan. 20th trial date, Judge Feess issued five-page ruling in the Fox's suit. He also stated a more detailed ruling would be coming and advised the studios to try and reach a settlement.
In the released ruling, Feess stated: "The parties may wish to turn their efforts from preparing for trial to negotiating a resolution of this dispute or positioning the case for review."
Although Warner Bros. has declined to comment on the ruling, the studio has not dropped the film’s release date. “Watchmen” was directed by Zack Snyder and stars Patrick Wilson and Jackie Earle Haley.
Fox filed the lawsuit in February, and claims it owns the distribution rights to the Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons groundbreaking graphic novel.
In the lawsuit, Fox claims producer Lawrence Gordon's option to pick up Fox's rights in "Watchmen" was never exercised, and the studio still has its rights from a 1994 turnaround agreement. Warner Bros. claims Fox doesn’t hold the rights to the graphic novel.
Fox picked up the "Watchmen" rights in the 1980s and has spent more than $1 million to develop a film based on the graphic novel. The project then went to Universal and Paramount for development. It eventually landed at Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures – which managed to get the project made.
Your Talkback on this Story