MovieSet Dailies

During the holiday season we’ve been taking some much needed vacation time but also keeping an eye on entertainment news that is breaking and there’s one story that’s emerged as a biggie. On Christmas Eve the judge presiding over the ownership of the Watchmen movie issued a statement saying that he found sufficient grounds to grant 20th Century Fox a stake in the ownership of the picture. Up to that point no decision had been made as to whether Warner Bros. had complete ownership of the film. You can read our past coverage of this trial to learn the details as to why Fox is contesting the ownership of the film, but right now it’s suffice to say that after WB has spent upwards of $150 million dollars to make Watchmen, Fox is now in a legal position where it stands to claim financial compensation for the film.

Judge Feess’ early ruling, as well as the mention that he would proceed with a trial in January over the Watchmen ownership rights, wasn’t the kind of X-Mas eve news Warners wanted to hear. After the Christmas holidays were over, yesterday Warners released a brief statement on their current position with the lawsuit. “We respectfully but vigorously disagree with the court’s ruling and are exploring all of our appellate options,” the studio said in its release. “We continue to believe that Fox’s claims have no merit and that we will ultimately prevail, whether at trial or in the Court of Appeals.”

Fox quickly countered with its own statement. “We are gratified by the recognition of our rights in the Judge’s order, which speaks for itself,” read the studio’s response.

Here’s my take on what this means, right now: Feess has given Fox a strong foothold to go on the attack and gain some kind of money from the creation of the Watchmen movie. Warners is concerned but I’m guessing that nothing short of an unprecedented ruling issuing Fox complete ownership of the movie — and that’s not going to happen — would delay the studio from releasing Watchmen on 03.06.09. The best case result would be Fox and WB settling out of court, but judging from the way Fox has been handling this case and after the disastrous box office year it’s had in 2008 (Marley and Me’s $53 million dollar opening weekend notwithstanding), the company is placing itself in a position where it wants to see this case all the way through.

The case will now advance to a trial by jury starting January 20.

Author: Patrick