I’m a sad panda. Apparently, Fox is suing WB with the goal of stopping the release of the Watchmen movie—a film that has wrapped principal photography. Note that I said stop the release, not just get a cut.
I’ll leave the hefty legal analysis for others, but I note that stopping release of the film seems unlikely. WB has put in a lot of money and time. It certainly hasn’t been keeping its production a secret, and Fox waits until now to attempt to enjoin the release? That looks pretty shady to me. In fact, it seems to me that filing suit when they did is the perfect moment to give just enough time to make an injunction possible, but late enough to let WB sink as much money as possible into the project.
Given that injunctions are equitable relief, I have trouble seeing how Fox’s tactics here show “clean hands.” Assuming Fox wins on the merits, I suspect any relief will simply be a cut of the movie.
Of course, I suspect that Fox has no expectation of getting and injunction. I think its statements are all bluster for the press and for the inevitable settlement negotiations. Which is how I think this will all work out—WB will pay off Fox.
I have only three hopes out of this whole thing: 1) I hope the movie is fantastic, which seems likely, 2) I hope the movie is released, and 2) I hope that WB makes enough profit on this project to justify taking a risk on another nice IP (NOT a sequel!)
We’ll see what happens.
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