JUDGE TO RULE IN WATCHMEN FIGHT

JUDGE TO RULE IN WATCHMEN FIGHT

A Los Angeles judge will decide the fate of hotly-anticipated graphic novel adaptation WATCHMEN after movie executives at 20th Century Fox threatened to challenge the film's release.
Lawyers for Fox and Warner Bros. - the film's distributor - have agreed to let a federal judge decide whether or not the film will hit cinemas this spring (09) as planned.
In court papers filed on Monday (05Jan09), the warring attorneys said they would let a judge decide whether or not Fox chiefs could block the film's planned distribution in March (09), as part of a copyright infringement lawsuit against Warner Bros.
Fox bought the movie rights to the graphic novel about postmodern crime fighters in 1986, but the film was passed around several studios before it landed at Warner Bros.
According to the Los Angeles Times newspaper, Fox chiefs argue that the original producer of the film never obtained the necessary rights from Fox.