'Watchmen' To Be Shelved?!
?Who watches the Watchmen?? Well, unfortunately for Zack Snyder, Warner Bros. and everyone with a stake in the long awaited big-screen adaptation of the 80s graphic novel, that question has been answered by Twentieth Century Fox. Their response? No one! That?s right, Watchmen is facing a shelving after a Los Angeles Court refused to dismiss a case filed by Fox against Warner over rights to the film. According to the Hollywood Reporter (and any other self-respecting news source on the planet), Judge Gary Allen Fees ruled that Fox has established enough evidence to support its claims that it holds the distribution rights to the film version. You see, Fox has sued Warners for copyright infringement and interference with its contract rights under a 1991 agreement between Fox and Largo Entertainment producer Larry Gordon. Under that deal, Fox "quit claimed" its rights in Watchmen to Largo, with the understanding that if the production company proceeded with a big-screen version of the comic, then the movie would be distributed by Fox. In 1994, Gordon negotiated with Fox "a turnaround notice" that established a buyout formula for the studio if he elected to acquire Fox's rights. But according to Fox, Gordon failed to follow the 1994 agreement. In 2006, Warners negotiated a quit-claim contract with Gordon, under which it claims to have acquired the rights to Watchmen. Boy, do I love legal mumbo-jumbo! The really messed up thing is that Fox isn?t looking for money, according to a relied source ?they don?t want to see the film released at all.? Well, I guess that?s what you get from a company owned by a bunch of self-righteous, snake-like pundits. All we the fans can do now is hope that Warner pummels Rupert Murdock in court and sends him back to the coffin he crawled out of.
