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Warner Brothers and Fox Peacefully Settle Over Watchmen!

by Alex Billington
January 15, 2009

It all began on August 18th and finally came to a conclusion today, January 15th. Warner Brothers and Fox have settled over the Watchmen legal case that reached its pinnacle on Christmas Eve when Judge Gary A. Feess stated that Fox "owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute." After meeting for weeks, the two movie studios have settled and Warner Brothers will still be releasing the film on March 6th as planned. Fox will receive a "sizable cash payment" as well as a percentage of the film's box office take. Fox will not be a co-distributor nor will it own a piece of the Watchmen property.

Thankfully this legal battle has ended peacefully and all the fans will get to see Watchmen on March 6th as planned. We were always hoping all along that this would end this way and I'm glad that it did. As much as I could argue about Fox getting money that they don't deserve, at this point it's great to see it end up this way. I think more than anything, producer Lloyd Levin made the most important statement regarding this legal battle and I the most I can do is point you towards that letter yet again. It's time to forget about the legalities and just get ready to enjoy Watchmen in just over 50 more days! Rejoice geeks, it's coming!

Filed under Hype, Movie News

From around the web:

Janny

wow... satan has to be freezing his balls off
Jimbo Slims

Let the loads droppeth.
Alex

YES!!! I can't wait!! I'm glad WB and Fox were able to settle and not leave it up to the judge to decide. 50 days!!
Conrad

YYYYYYEEEEEEEESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the best news ever!!!! Thanks for reporting this
-Peter-

Fox doesn't deserve a penny, but this is still the best news I've heard in a while. Thank god WB gets to keep it, and it gets released on time.
Al

i'm with Peter. on everything.
Fuelbot

Thank. God. Or in this case, THANK THE DARK KNIGHT FOR GIVING THE WB THE CASH TO PAY FOX THE HELL OFF.
Nate

Thank God!!!!! Now We can officially start counting down the days, 50 days and counting.
Itri
http://tj.com TJ

thank you lord jesus Fox is now unbanned in my household. now i can count down
Blackstar

I'd rather Watchwomen than Watchmen.
http://film-book.com Film-Book dot Com

Sweet.
http://evilnik.blog.com evilnik

you know why this dispute has been solved? cos tom rothman has moved to marvel see: ironman casting/nick fury debacle
Cody

YEEEEEEEEAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO OMFG under 2 months now fuck its gonna be so sick FUCK YES! perfect topper to my day.
Jordan

Now if all the Watchmen fans boycott Wolverine that should negate the money they make from Watchmen.
Daniel

#15 Hell, I'll support it.
Aravena

I won't go any FOX movies this year. Normally, I don't mind them.
http://www.drduvel.net Dr. Duvel

#15 Definitely. Fox are still in my Dog House. Leeches.
Fisherr

Finally the ended the crap, hope they end the issues with X-Men Origins:Wolverine shooting problems fast
K

NICE!!! I figued WB and Zach wouldn't let this be delayed or F with their movie. I HATE FOX! Everyone should boycot their movies to send a message. All they care about is the $$$, not movie fans, not making a quality movie, nothing. Assh@oles!
Murphey

Oh thank god, now I can go see it in IMAX and love the shit out of it when people get confused.
Florian

Yes, I'm really happy !!!! Fox will receive a cash payment of $5/10 millions as well as a percentage of the film's box office take, which is 8,5%.
Nikhil Hariharann

Alright guys, yes this is GREAT news, but now you cant put the blame on Fox. They deserve the money they are getting and boycotting their movies isnt going to do much, everyones still going to watch their films they distribute, including me.
http://theplaylist.blogpost.com ThePlaylist

just cause the movie wasn't delayed and everyone seems to be happy doesn't mean it was a "peaceful" settlement. i think that's a bit of a misnomer considering everything that went down.
Chris C.

This is good, I guess. FOX does deserve a share of the profits, but at least their name won't be stapled on everything. I still am very pessimistic about the film though.
Ivan Arcaya

It's a better outcome then I expected. Fox's Legal team must have had doubts that they could win if it went to trial. Warner Brother's had a good case but I believe that Zack Snyder had more leverage then WB's legal team. I respect Zack Snyder 's decision. It was good for his Cinematic Art Film, WATCHMEN, and for the fans. WB and Mr Snyder could end up losing money if the film makes less money then the cost of production, distribution, advertising and the front up payment to fox and the paying of a percentage of the profits as an end deal. My respect to WB and Zack Snyder Finally;I join my fellow commentators in celebrating the progression of The WATCHMEN to it's planned March 6, 2009 advertised theatrical release date.
Fox Wins

I love this site and think at time is nothing short than awesome...that is until you begin to whine about the legal trouble with Watchmen. If you don't care for Fox, don't go to Fox made movies. Stop watching any X-Files reruns, don't watch the Fox and the Hound Dog...stop crying and grow a pair.
James

#27, The Fox and the Hound was a Disney movie, not a Fox movie.
Fox Wins

Yes I'm well aware of that fact...the joke was that FOX is in the title
Punx

Now that this is all said and done and it will still come out March 6th and all that...... This. Movie. Is. Going. To. Suck. Yes, I am a purist to the concept of the original GN. It took three movies in comparison to the source material to realize that Moore has been more right than wrong in his derisiveness toward film adaptations of his work. I liked V For Vendetta, but the fact that they felt they had update and/or recontextualize it to fit post-9/11 worldstate, takes a bit away from the true cynicism latent in the original books toward the concept of any man-made form of government being inherently flawed and therefore pointless. But this is about Watchmen, so let me have at it this way: In all the years I have read this book, I always saw it as an animated (if not anime ala Miyazaki or in the style of Ninja Scroll) maxiseries, with each book deserving of a 90 minute, if not 2 hour, "episode" each, meaning, yes, a 24 hour running time. I own the Absolute Watchmen HC and Dave Gibbon's Watching The Watchmen book, which together are like having a Blu-Ray unrated Director's Cut of Watchmen already, and although the scenes we have seen that correlate almost exactly visually to the book itself are spectacular, they consist of a page or so of a much larger narrative that I don't think you can just do a Frank Miller on and think you can portray things that aren't visual in a visual way just to stay true to the source. The book itself is already written and framed in the best way to approach the story, and it is a huge story that takes place over debatably somewhere between the late 40's (in the Minutemen arc) to 1985, and there's a lot of background that is not our history that does exist in Watchmen (Nixon is still president, I rest my case) that you can't just gloss over and expect the person coming to see this who has never heard of the GN but have been hyped to death with cool trailers to want to see it. I know others have said this stuff, it's just my take. I will probably still see it one way or another, though I finally saw Speed Racer after avoiding it for a while, and couldn't get through it, so we'll see, that's all. In true geek speak, I have the best movie version of Watchmen that will ever be in my head and nothing will come close, apologies sorta to Zach Snyder.
http://www.geyiktr.net Hassan

I respect Zack Snyder 's decision. It was good for his Cinematic Art Film, WATCHMEN, and for the fans. WB and Mr Snyder could end up losing money if the film makes less money then the cost of production, distribution, advertising and the front up payment to fox and the paying of a percentage of the profits as an end deal.