Will Watchmen be released? Judge rules for Fox

[rdawson808]

Slim and others, you must be following this. The judge ruled that Fox had the first right of refusal to produce and distribute The Watchmen, yet Warner Bros. did it. He made it perfectly clear that there is absolutely no confusion in the matter.

Fox tried to get Warner Bros. to settle when they first starting shooting, but got nowhere.

Whattya think? Will it get released?

 

[Flambeur]

Originally Posted by rdawson808

Slim and others, you must be following this. The judge ruled that Fox had the first right of refusal to produce and distribute The Watchmen, yet Warner Bros. did it. He made it perfectly clear that there is absolutely no confusion in the matter.

Fox tried to get Warner Bros. to settle when they first starting shooting, but got nowhere.

Whattya think? Will it get released?


Of course it will get released. They will just have to work out an agreement, but come on, probably over a hundred million invested, and the potential to make 5 times as much.

Yeah, they will figure out a way to make it work.

 

[Pennglock]

Sure it will, but Fox has them by the balls now. I'm guessing the settlement is going to be somewhere in the $100 MM range.

 

[joeygladstone]

it's a mega movie, it's coming out

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Agreed. It will be released. There will be some sort of up front monetary settlement agreed to, and an outside chance of a percentage of licensing. But there is too much money involved for this to be delayed significantly or shelved.

 

[rdawson808]

It was sort of a rhetorical question--of course it will come out. I was just hoping I could release a bunch of vitriol from the fans over the whole to-do.

b

 

[otc]

It will come out, they carefully maneuvered thier court process in a way that makes it clear they are looking for a settlement.

They made sure that there is not enough time left to appeal for a jury trial where the rights could very well be handed over (possibly with a court-assigned fee). The studio is stuck because they have an impending release date, anxious fans, and a lot of money invested. If the lawyers had come on strong the day they decided to make the movie, they may have just elected not to make it (no payoff) or they may have been able to make a lowball estimate of their own budget and marketing to say it wasn't going to be a big movie (leading to a low payoff).

I think had it gone into a full on jury trial, they probably would have transfered the rights, paying back whatever was initially paid for the movie rights plus interest plus some low punitive damages...whatever payoff results from this will certainly be more than that though I doubt it will break 100mil

 

[lefty]

Zack Snyder on the movie:

http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/12/...en-featurette/

lefty

 

[bkk]

I haven't been so excited about a movie since the LOTR trilogy. It looks spectacular.