Fox Challenged on Watchmen

Above: the latest promotional video for Watchmen featuring more on the Minute Men's role in the movies story and includes brief interviews with Zack Snyder and Dave Gibbons who worked on the graphic novel with comic’s writer Alan Moore.

By Ian M. Cullen via SciFiPulse: It's common knowledge that Fox have successfully won their case against Warner regarding the distribution rights for the feature film of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's Watchmen. However Warner Bros are not backing down and still plan to release the movie on its scheduled 6 March release date.

In an open letter on the HitFix.com Web site, Watchmen producer Lloyd Levin revealed his thoughts on the whole legal situation regarding the case between Fox and Warner, and without addressing the legal issues directly. He proposed a possible compromise. Below are excerpts from his letter.

"From my point of view, the flashpoint of this dispute came in late spring of 2005. Both Fox and Warner Brothers were offered the chance to make Watchmen. They were submitted the same package, at the same time. It included a cover letter describing the project and its history, budget information, a screenplay, the graphic novel, and it made mention that a top director was involved.

"And it's at this point, where the response from both parties could not have been more radically different.

"The response we got from Fox was a flat 'pass.' That's it. An internal Fox e-mail documents that executives there felt the script was one of the most unintelligible pieces of s--t they had read in years. Conversely, Warner Brothers called us after having read the script and said they were interested in the movie-yes, they were unsure of the screenplay, and had many questions, but wanted to set a meeting to discuss the project, which they promptly did. Did anyone at Fox ask to meet on the movie? No. Did anyone at Fox express any interest in the movie? No. Express even the slightest interest in the movie? Or the graphic novel? No. ...

"It seems beyond cynical for the studio to claim ownership at this point. ...

"For the sake of the artists involved, for the hundreds of people, executives and filmmakers, actors and crew, who invested their time, their money, and dedicated a good portion of their lives in order to bring this extraordinary project to life, the question of what is right is clear and unambiguous -- Fox should stand down with its claim."

We look forward to developments...