Semester One: Article Two - "Watchmen" production stalls

“Watchmen” production stalls

Warner Bros. and Fox battle for rights to adaptation

Patrick White/HC Media/Collegian

September 11, 2008

The music cues up and there is the Twentieth Century Fox logo. This famous logo might have a new effect on moviegoers as Fox falls deeper into a lawsuit with Warner Brothers Studio on the film property “Watchmen.”

The drama between the two studios began in February of this year. Fox sued Warner Bros. for their violation of copyright infringement, interference with contract and breach of contract. Fox is said to still hold the rights to create a “Watchmen” adaptation.

On August 13 Warner Bros. tried to have the lawsuit shelved, but the judge at this time did not allow questions to remain unanswered.

“Watchmen” is a graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. The graphic novel in question was published as a monthly series through 1986 and 1987.

It has been voted as one of the Top 100 novels by Time Magazine and has been in and out of production since the late ‘80s.

The lawsuit involves the Warner Bros. planned release of the graphic novel adaptation as well as the proposed distribution. Fox is trying to stop the release of the film, which is slated to come out on March 6.

Fox’s reason for preventing Warner Bros. distribution is the belief that they still hold the rights to make a film adaptation of the graphic novel in question.

“It is our company’s policy not to comment on pending litigation and thus will not comment on the specifics of this case,” said Warner Bros. “The court’s ruling simply means that the parties will engage in discovery and proceed with the litigation. We respectfully disagree with Fox’s position and do not believe they have any rights in and to this project.”

Fox claims that it still owns the rights after they made a deal in the late 1980s. Fox gained rights in question by making a deal with the production company Largo International. The argument in favor of Warner Bros. is that some of the alleged rights were renounced in 1991, so anyone could step in.

However, Fox stated that it gained the rights in question by making a deal with Largo International, not one of the company’s producers, Lawrence Gordon.

The original plan was for Largo to produce the film and Fox to distribute, but production never went underway. So, to still hold their rights through the years they went into a quitclaim agreement with the production company.

“We will be asking the court to enforce Fox’s copyright interests in ‘The Watchmen’ and enjoin the release of the Warner Bros. film,” Twentieth Century Fox said. “And any related ‘Watchmen’ media that violate our copyright interests in that property.”

When Warner Bros. tried to gain the rights to make “Watchmen,” they went to Gordon thinking they were in the right. In response to this Fox says Gordon had no right to sell the property because it was not his to sell. One way or another, Fox claims they still hold the right to the eventual film adaptation and other “Watchmen” products.

The lawsuit was seeing no real progress and was only crippling Fox’s image as a studio. However, this progress was jumpstarted on Sept. 2 when Los Angeles federal Judge Gary Allen Feess finally set a trial date for Jan. 6.

The issue with this fast approaching date is that it could affect the release date of “Watchmen,” It could even be completely wiped from Warner Bros. schedule.

This could potentially destroy Warner Bros. income next year. The studio has three films being released next year: “Watchmen”, “Terminator Salvation,” and “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince”, which just recently switched its release date. The decision in moving the Harry Potter film may have helped Warner Bros. financial intake if “Watchmen” is not released.

This lawsuit’s effect on the fans is causing uproar and promises of a boycott of future Fox films including the new X-Men spin off “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”

So not only might Warner Bros. have to pinch pennies, but Fox also may be looking at another slump after a string of flops this summer.

“You think it would have blown up before the movie was finished but that’s showbiz,” said Len Iannelli vice president of special events of Twentieth Century Fox. “Hopefully it will work itself out somehow for the sake of the fans.”