If there is anything most avid online movie news readers know it is that Hollywood is a “money driven” industry. Without the moola there is no reason to exist. Morals play no part in such an industry and considering the lawsuit between Warner Bros. and Fox over Watchmen the only thing that is important is the money.
Warner Bros., director Zack Snyder and his crew put together what looks like it could be a fantastic adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ highly acclaimed graphic novel. To some unknown extent 20th Century Fox apparently still owns a stake in said film and based on a December 24th ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Gary Feess “Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the Watchmen motion picture.” This certainly gums up the works for that proposed March 6 release and on January 20 we are expecting to find out if that March release date will be delayed or if Warner Bros. will go ahead with their marketing plan.
Until then, the producers behind the selling of the rights to the film adaptation, Lloyd Levin and Larry Gordon, have decided to say a few words. Levin shares his via an open letter posted on the newly minted HitFix.com and Gordon had his “voice” heard via what was deemed “improper communication” as he sent a letter directly to Judge Feess, a letter Feess refused to read and issued a one-paragraph response which included some of the following statements as paraphrased by The Hollywood Reporter:
“Mr. Gordon clearly testified that he does not recall any conversations he had with representatives of Fox in or about 1994 relating to ‘Watchmen’ … It is Mr. Gordon’s position that the execution of the 1994 turnaround agreement was the result of either a mutual mistake by both parties or a unilateral mistake made by his counsel, on which Mr. Gordon relied.”
If Gordon believes calling it a mistake is going to solve things he can guess again. However, that moves us to Levin’s open letter, which doesn’t open up the possibility of mistakes as much as it asks Fox to do what is “morally right.” I mean, come on, morals in Hollywood? Yeah right…
After a long opening with details regarding what happened and when, the meat of Levin’s letter begins (and really ends) with these two questions:
Shouldn’t Warner Brothers be entitled to the spoils – if any — of the risk they took in supporting and making Watchmen? Should Fox have any claim on something they could have had but chose to neither support nor show any interest in?
To answer both of these questions plainly: No. That is, of course, if Fox does have any claim to the rights of the graphic novel, which it appears they do. Just because Warner Bros. spent money to make it doesn’t mean squat if they don’t own the sole rights to the property. If Fox decided to go ahead and make a Batman film and spent millions of dollars to do so and it came out great would that mean they should have the right to release it even though Warner Bros. owns the Batman rights?
His letter continues:
Look at it another way… One reason the movie was made was because Warner Brothers spent the time, effort and money to engage with and develop the project. If Watchmen was at Fox the decision to make the movie would never have been made because there was no interest in moving forward with the project.
Well, if Fox owns the rights it is perfectly within their right not to make the film.
Does a film studio have the right to stand in the way of an artistic endeavor and determine that it shouldn’t exist? If the project had been sequestered at Fox, if Fox had any say in the matter, Watchmen simply wouldn’t exist today, and there would be no film for Fox to lay claim on. It seems beyond cynical for the studio to claim ownership at this point.
To answer the question posed in this one: Yes. Once again, as long as they own the rights they can “stand in the way” of whatever they want. Is it “beyond cynical” as Levin says? Yes, but that has no bearing on the matter.
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.
My father, who was a lawyer and a stickler for the minutiae of the law, was always quick to teach me that the determination of what is right and wrong was not the sole purview of the courts. I bet someone at Fox had a parent like mine who instilled the same sense of fairness and justice in them.
Sorry to say it, but this is where Levin sounds defeated and if this is any indication of the state of things it seems WB is going to have to pony up. You can’t begin arguing morals and fairness in a legal proceding. If it really has gotten that bad who knows what is going to happen?
I still have optimism things are going to go in the favor of the fans, but perhaps not in the favor of Warner Bros. I agree, on a moral level Fox should back down. However, our country isn’t a moral country or all those frivolous lawsuits wouldn’t exist for people burning themselves after spilling coffee in their lap or slipping in a grocery store. We wouldn’t have FBI warnings on our DVDs and claims from the studio that the commentaries are the opinion of those saying them and not the studio themselves. Those warnings exist because pain-in-the-ass consumers sued the studios over something that was said on a DVD commentary. Stupidity always tends to go full circle and it never has anything to do with morals. Unfortunately this is just one more example.
Beyond everything that was said above I believe the greatest line in Levin’s letter comes after he discussed how hard it was to ever get the film made in the first place:
After all these years of rejection, this is the same project, the same movie, over which two studios are now spending millions of dollars contesting ownership. Irony indeed, and then some.
These guys couldn’t get anyone to spend money to make Watchmen and now they are spending millions just to release what was eventually made, and one studio is spending millions to ensure it doesn’t get released. I think we have fallen into what Don Birnam would call a “vicious circle… No end, no beginning.”
Thanks to the boys at HitFix and all of you that sent in the link to their article.
