Sep
3
The desktop image on my PC used to be the blood-spattered smiley-face logo from the film version of “Watchmen” — based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ untoppable deconstruction of superhero mythology — back when Paul Greengrass had the project set up at Paramount. The movie ended up not happening, and Warner Bros. acquired the rights when they went into turnaround.
Based on my limited knowledge of rights issues from the 18 months I toiled in the file room at none other than Warner Bros., a project in “turnaround” is essentially up for grabs. A studio’s “option” (their right to develop a film based on a particular work) has expired, and they’ve elected not to renew it; options typically last for a period of a year to a year and a half, allowing the studio time to develop a script, generate interest among actors and filmmakers and secure financing. At any rate, if a studio elects not to renew their option, the project goes into turnaround, and it’s fair game for another studio to snap up. Sometimes, a studio will renew its option on a given work just to prevent another studio, or even the original author of the work, from getting their hands on it. Jerks.
The rights to “Watchmen” have bounced from one studio to the next over the years, despite being a DC publication. DC/Vertigo properties are almost exclusively develped by Warner Bros. But back in the late-’80s, 20th Century Fox had the rights for a spell. This was when Terry Gilliam was attached to the project and Sam Hamm was handling the scripting chores. Obviously, the movie never got made, and after some two decades, the rights landed at Warner Bros. not too long ago. It finally went before cameras earlier this year and is due in March of ‘09.
My laptop has a new desktop image (Silk Spectre, homina!), and I’m cautiously optimistic about the finished product. It’s hard to believe we’ll all be watching the “Watchmen” in a few short months.
Or will we? 20th Century Fox, the studio that unleashed two sucktastic “Fantastic Four” movies in recent years, has decided that if they can’t ruin a property, no one can. They’re suing Warner Bros. over some rights issue related to “Watchmen” and trying to block the film’s release. According to THR.com, a court date is set for January 6th.
This whole thing is a friggin’ mess. Fox says they think they still hold the rights to release the film if Largo produces the film. Largo went extinct as a production company in the early-’90s. Producer Lawrence Gordon survived Largo’s implosion and held onto the rights, which he shopped from one studio to the next. But it’s not like Gordon’s done it on the sneak all this time. The project was at Paramount for eleventeen years. Before Greengrass was attached, Darren Aronofsky was developing it. Where was Fox’s legal team then?
My theory: Fox was biding their time until the movie went before cameras. Now that Warner Bros. has sunk an assload of money into the film’s production, Fox has them over a barrell. No way in hell is this movie going to sit in some vault indefinitely while entertainment lawyers sort this mess out. No, Fox knows Warner Bros. will pay a settlement to make sure the film opens on schedule. It’s extortion, more or less, and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer studio.
All we can do is sit back and watch.
-Brad Lohan
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