On December 24th, fans of the landmark comic Watchmen were prematurely given a lump of coal for Christmas when 20th Century Fox won a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over the rightful distribution of the upcoming film adaptation.
Considered the “most celebrated graphic novel of all time”, Zac Synder’s 120 million dollar adaptation of Watchmen is scheduled for release March 6th this year. However, thanks 20th Century Fox’s victory in the court room, claiming to have the rights to a movie adaptation since the 1980′s, the film might be forced to push back the clock.
Mind you, Warner isn’t going down without a fight, last week issuing the following statement;
“We respectfully but vigorously disagree with the court’s ruling and are exploring all of our appellate options. 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.”
Meanwhile, Fox are seeking to push back the release date of the film until all the courtroom drama has been resolved, leaving helpless fans outraged that the “greedy” studio had to interfere even though they were fully within their rights.
20th Century Fox (right) takes on Watchmen fans (left)
So what’s the big deal about this film, anyway?
For starters, keyboards all over the world short circuited last year as comic book fans excessively salivated over the release of this trailer. If it wasn’t the ominous bassy and orchestral undertones of the Smashing Pumpkin’s ‘The Beginning is the End is The Beginning’ that fogged up the glasses of fans, the trailer showcases spectacular visuals that has already been cited as remarkably faithful to that of the graphic novel. Oh, did I mention that the trailer is also the very definition of freakin’ awesome? And I’ve never even read the original comic by Alan Moore and David Gibbons.
Aside from being considered “unfilmable” ( a label which Lord of the Rings historically made redundant), fan’s were also over the moon to see Watchmen actually reach production status in the first place. Ever since Fox bought the rights in 1986 to a Watchmen film, but never got past a screenplay when it came to making the damn thing, fans were left believing the film would never see the light of day on the silver screen. A slimmer of hope came in 1994 when Fox put the production into turnaround, granting certain rights to producer Lawrence Gordon (Die Hard, Hellboy) whilst retaining rights to distribution and a share of the profits. This allowed Gordon to sell the production rights to another studio, as Fox declared they were not going to make it, so long as the affirmed rights remained. Yet when Gordon got Warner Bros. and 300 director Zac Synder on board, he never gave Fox the chance to rejoin the project, which was supposedly part of the original deal.
Given the huge success of The Dark Knight and Iron Man at the box office last year, it’s no surprise Fox now want a piece of the Watchmen pie. Easily the most anticipated comic book adaptation of the new year, there is a lot more at stake than just a cut of the profits. Fox also claim that the original turnaround deal grants them with the rights to any sequel, which could put them in control of a multi-billion dollar franchise should this film be a hit at the box-office .
So the biggest question is not now, “Will Watchmen be The Dark Knight of 2009?”
It’s more like, “Will Watchmen be 2009 at all?”
Source: LA times
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