Watchmen Lawsuit Details

News from Variety about the settlement on the "Watchmen" lawsuit.

"Warner Bros. gets the right to open its superhero pic on March 6 as planned, and Fox's logo will not be on the film, sources said.

Fox, on the other hand, will emerge with an upfront cash payment that sources pegged between $5 million and $10 million, covering reimbursement of $1.4 million the studio invested in development fees, and also millions of dollars in legal fees incurred during the case.

More importantly, Fox will get a gross participation in 'Watchmen' that scales between 5% and 8.5%, depending on the film’s worldwide revenues. Fox also participates as a gross player in any sequels and spinoffs, sources said.

A joint statement said,'Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox have resolved their dispute regarding the rights to the upcoming motion picture 'Watchmen' in a confidential settlement. Warner Bros. acknowledges that Fox acted in good faith in bringing its claims, which were asserted prior to the start of principal photography.

Fox acknowledges that Warner Brothers acted in good faith in defending against those claims. Warner Bros. and Fox, like all "Watchmen" fans, look forward with great anticipation to this film’s March 6 release in theatres.'"

Other areas that are not confirmed that might be affected by this settlement are that the release date of "Terminator Salvation" might be changed (though I doubt that because "Terminator Salvation" rights owner Halcyon has that May 22 release date stipulated in its contract, which cannot be changed suddenly) and "Get Smart 2" will be delayed so that Steve Carrell can make a movie with Tina Fey called "Date Night."

So hopefully this is the end all, be all for the "Watchmen" case. We'll just see the movie when it comes out in March.