As previously reported, Fox and Warners, both embroiled in the legal struggle over the WATCHMEN movie, had agreed to wait until January 20th to have Judge Gary Feess rule on whether Warners would be able to release the movie as planned. However, with the clock ticking, Warners is trying to get the date moved up, as they are already pouring marketing money into a picture that might not open.
Warner Bros. disclosed in court filings that “Watchmen,” which the studio hopes will be a global blockbuster, cost $130 million to produce, with marketing and promotion expenditures pushing the studio’s total investment to “more than $150 million.” On Monday, Fox and Warner agreed to skip a jury trial and let Feess convene a hearing Jan. 20 on whether Warner should be blocked from releasing the movie. But on Tuesday, with the release date less than eight weeks away, Warner asked the judge to begin the hearing eight days earlier, on Monday. The studio is already running trailers in theaters promoting “Watchmen.” “Because the release date for ‘Watchmen’ is less than two months away and Warner Bros. must imminently commit to spending tens of millions of dollars on its marketing and promotional campaign for the picture, time is of the essence,” Warner Bros. said in its request.
As always, Film Esq. has more on the legal underpinnings of the latest moves.
This kind of inattention to detail is exactly what got Warners in this situation in the first place. It’s too bad they forgot Watchmen was opening on March 6 until after they agreed to the judge’s timetable.
Warner Bros. should just take the loss and pocket this movie.
this is the first time that i’ve actually believed Alan Moore is a magician.
good job Alan!
There’s something about the look of Watchmen that has me a little concerned. When I look at that pic, everything looks kind of plastic. I think they tried too hard to force the color palette of the comics into the movie. Green, purple and orange are not normal colors, so it gives everything a fake feel. Hopefully it translates better on screen (which, in the trailers, it seems to pull off).