Watchmen Lawsuit: An Open Letter from a Fox Employee to the Internet
The Watchmen saga continues today, with an update from both the Fox and Warner Brothers camp on the judge’s Christmas Eve ruling. According to Variety, the WB has no plans to settle and completely refuses to budge on their release date, while Fox still intends to pursue a court order to delay the film. In other words, this could go on for quite a while.
I was recently contacted by an anonymous Fox employee (speaking only on behalf of him/herself) who felt that a lot of the fanboy anger was being misplaced. This employee wanted a chance to clear the air and lay out the facts in the whole situation, so I agreed to post it. So please be aware, I did not write the rant that follows…
My God, what a sniveling bunch of crybaby morons with absolutely no clue what you are all talking about. If you want to be angry at someone then unleash your fanboy wrath on Larry Gordon, primarily, then when you’ve finished with him you might think about shitting all over WB for their completely retarded handling of this whole thing. Here are a few things you might want to consider before you all crap on Fox for being the evil empire:
1. Fact: PRIOR to production of the Watchmen, Fox approached the WB and informed them that they weren’t entitled to distribute the movie as Fox still owned the rights.
At that time, the WB decided to roll the dice and take their chances. So for all of you who think it was a dick move for Fox to file suit after principle photography had been completed, you are mistaken. Fox gave them a chance to sort this out before they made a movie but the WB refused.
2. Fact: Larry Gordon is mostly to blame for all of this.
He knew, full well, that no matter what the circumstance, he was legally obligated to take the movie, in its current incarnation, to Fox and give them the right of first refusal. He didn’t. And after Fox went to WB before production, they had done their due diligence. Once they explained to the WB they owned distribution rights, WB should have gone back to Gordon and cleared it all up before filming. This is so simple it’s amazing to me that so many of you can’t understand it. So let me put this in terms you might understand:
Say Fox got pitched a new Batman movie by some guy who had an ancient contract with the WB. So Fox goes with the pitch and begins pre-production. Then the WB contacts Fox to inform them that they own the distribution rights but Fox decides to go forward anyway. The movie is finished. So the WB files suit. If you are the WB, don’t you think that after trying to be civil and sort things out early on and being rejected by FOX that you would do your best to file suit to inflict the most damage possible and put yourself in the best possible position legally? Of course you would. You bitchy fanboys just get your panties in a bunch because you all hate Fox from the get go. But truth is if the tables were turned and Fox had made the Watchmen movie and the WB owned the distribution rights and the same situation had occurred, you’d be killing the WB. So get your stories straight.
3. Fact: Both Warner Bros and Fox requested a directed verdict from the judge to speed the process up.
The judge initially declined to issue a directed verdict but then he read the pleadings from both sides. After reading the facts, he ruled in favor of Fox. And if any of you had taken the time to read the court documents that have been posted online you didn’t have to be an attorney to know that at the very least, Fox had a claim (read Nikki Finke’s chronology of the process). How big their claim is, distribution rights/production rights or both remains to be seen. But the judge seems to think that at the very least Fox owns the rights to distribute the movie and possibly more. Now that the directed verdict has gone against the WB, they are demanding that it goes before a jury.
Bottom line is the WB gambled and lost, BIG. You all may not like that but if you want to spew anger at anyone then spew it at Larry Gordon and the WB for making a movie they may or may not have had the rights to make and from the judge’s decision, definitely didn’t have the right to distribute. Read the papers filed in the case. It’s beyond obvious that Larry Gordon never went to Fox with Zach Snyder and his new script to offer them their right of first refusal. If he had, this would have all been over. Then the WB was contacted by Fox BEFORE production and they flat out refused to negotiate a deal to prevent all this from happening. I’d imagine there are some lawyers working for WB that won’t have a job soon after the New Year.
Anyone who claims anything differently is just plain wrong. Grow up and start flaming the real bad guys in this whole thing, Gordon and the WB legal department.
Comments (11)
So we are supposed to believe some random guy? Sean…what tells you this isn’t just some jerk off w/ time to kill?
Lets assume all of this is true and Fox did warn Warners prior to filming…why not file suit on day one of principal photography rather than wait until after the CG-filled full length trailers have hit the public? It can’t take six months to get a slew of lawyers together! (Ok…I don’t know a lot about entertainment law but common sense says this is highly unlikely.)
Posted by Ryan M. on December 30th, 2008The person who wrote this is someone I have corresponded with before and not “some random guy”
But aside from that, I’m pretty sure all this info is in the court documents.
Posted by Sean on December 30th, 2008Lol, I didn’t mean to sound like an ass. That rant fueled me.
I really don’t care enough to scroll through court docs…I’ll just wait for Film Junk to fill me in.
Posted by Ryan M. on December 30th, 2008Haha, yeah I don’t care enough either.
Posted by Sean on December 30th, 2008As true as this may be, the mechanics of distribution rights aren’t going to help Fox out of this situation. I can understand wanting their rightful cut of the profits, hitting Warner Brothers where it hurts for not doing their due diligence. But if Fox actually attempts to bury what appears to be a successful attempt to film the “unfilmable”, it will look petulant and financially irresponsible to anyone who cares, including their stockholders.
This is the 21st century, Fox. Things rarely stay buried for long in the internet age, so cash in if you can. Last time I checked, you could use the money.
Posted by Cartographer on December 30th, 2008I could give a shit anymore, I’ll only get mad if the movie is just never released which won’t happen. I just think it’s cool that a real Fox employee sent this to you!
Posted by Drew on December 30th, 2008I’d be more on their side if he wasn’t being such a dick in his letter.
Posted by Paul on December 30th, 2008Man, this guy really loves Fox and doesn’t like it if people say bad things about them!
Anonymous letters are pretty weak though, I mean come on.
Posted by Henrik on December 31st, 2008This letter lost any credibility right around the time the employee referred to the WB as, “retarded” then followed it up by telling fans to get made at, “the real bad guys”. For someone who understands the complexities of entertainment law he sure is coming off the like smartest 12 year old I have ever had the displeasure to hear from.
I really don’t care about this situation one bit. I want to see the film but I will see it when I see ya know? I just don’t care for an “inside source” opinion that clearly doesn’t come from anyone involved in the film, rather an immature mail room employee with a sense of self importance.
Cheers…
Posted by Daemon on December 31st, 2008from my limited understanding of the way Hollywood works everything is contested, everything… It seems to be a business were people will cast about looking for fees for infringement rights, stolen ideas and verbal approvals everywhere. Look how New Line went all the way to court over the Lord of the Rings payouts to Peter Jackson. I’m sure in Bob Shaye’s mind he felt Jackson should be rewarded, but took the chance he would settle for less – its all “the way the game is played”. The ironic thing is a lot of the legal documents in the film business are very unprofessional versus other areas of business. I’m sure there was some justifiable clause, verbal agreement, questionable deal memo, that gave WB reason to believe they could move forward. They probably already have a settlement limit in their budget.
Posted by rus on December 31st, 2008The truth is, this guy is right. WB and Larry Gordon were legally vulnerable. But FOX is making a bigg PR mistake. If Watchmen is delayed or shelved or tinkered with, I will boycott FOX, Wolverine and all. I’m a huge supporter of Comic movies and Fox has ruined X-men enough. Killing Watchmen means I will vote with my money. Too bad many will give in. But I know a lot of folks who will. I wish the fanboys would get a spine, band together and really boycott the shit out of FOX if this happens, I just don’t think they got the nuts to stick with it.
Sometimes being “legally” correct doesn’t mean you aren’t the bad guy.
Posted by Stuff Daddy on January 7th, 2009Leave a Reply