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Fox Studios screwing up Watchmen for everyone.

Sadly, a federal judge has denied Warner Brothers motion to dismiss the 20th Century Fox’s legal battle over rights to develop, produce and distribute the film based on the comic book series Watchmen.  With Watchmen set for a March 2009 release, this is a huge setback and could delay the release of the film for some time to come.  Fox is seeking to enjoin Warner Brothers from going forward with the project.  Fox filed the lawsuit in February of this year.  U.S. District Court Judge Gary Allen Feess refused to dismiss the lawsuit claiming that they still retain the distribution rights from a 1994 agreement. 

Written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons, the limited series has been hailed by comic book and literary critics for decades as one of the best novels of the 20th century.  Warner Brothers will probably end up paying Fox Studios a large sum of money to keep the Watchmen on schedule, which is all Fox is looking for anyway.  It’s no secret that Fox sat on its rights for years without exercising them.  When the project was greenlit, they could have fought for the rights to re-acquire the film but passed.  It’s a sad cash grab that Fox is gambling on.  After the Warner Brothers heavily promoted the film at San Diego Comic-con, Fox saw the quality and fan anticipation and decided to latch on to the project.

After destroying the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises, Fox is looking to screw up other companies projects.  Here’s to hoping that Judge Feess eventually throws the case out.