Tagged: Warner Bros

ComicMix QuickPicks – January 13, 2009

ComicMix QuickPicks – January 13, 2009

Today’s installment of comic-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest…

* Even Batman can’t save everybody at Warner Brothers from a lousy economy. Reuters reports the studio is considering ways to cut its budget by 10 percent, saving tens of millions of dollars via layoffs or other steps. "No decisions have been made," said a Warner Bros spokesman regarding the cost cuts, which are widely expected to result in an unspecified number of layoffs at the studio. Warner Bros is owned by Time Warner Inc, which last week projected a loss for the year, compared with a previous forecast of earnings of $1.04 to $1.07 per share.

Hey… isn’t DC Comics owned by Warner Brothers? Watch your backs, folks.

* Hexed #1. Free. Downloadable. CBZ file, even. Enjoy. I did.

* ICV2: "Titan Books has announced the expansion of its publishing agreement with Golden Age comics pioneer Joe Simon, the co-creator of Captain America.  This summer Titan will launch The Official Simon and Kirby Library, which will now include full color hardcover volumes collecting Simon & Kirby’s horror, detective, and romance comics." I detect the fine hand of Steve Saffel in this; way to go, Steve.

* According to a recent study, forty-six per cent of Canadians can’t name a single Canadian writer. Here, let me give you two. Ty Templeton. Robert J. Sawyer. You’re welcome.

* Laurel Maury reviews Jonathan Lethem’s Omega The Unknown for NPR. (Come back to the Malibu, Laurel, we miss you!)

* Friday night’s airing of the start of season 4.5 of Battlestar Galactica will run 3.5 minutes long according to information released by SciFi. Dish Network has already adjusted the run time but you should double check any PVR’s you may have set up. You’ve been warned.

* An interview with Dean Mullaney.

* Why I dislike Batwoman too.

Anything else? Consider this an open thread.

Comic du jour from Hugh MacLeod, the creator of Mr. Hell.

‘Watchmen’ settlement getting closer?

‘Watchmen’ settlement getting closer?

  • News
  • January 13, 2009

Ah, the post-holiday slump. Retailers are retrenching, publishers are getting ready for announcements at NYCC– some days it seems if it wasn’t for Watchmen news, we’d have no news at all. Luckily, we keep getting more of that.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fox and Warner Bros. are letting it leak that they are “close” to reaching a settlement in their dispute over rights to Zack Snyder’s Watchmen movie that will allow Warners to release the film as planned on March 6th.  Lawyers for Fox and Warners met Monday in the chambers of Federal Judge Gary Feess.  Warner Bros., which has already spent at least $150 million to produce the Watchmen movie, has evidently dropped its request that Judge Feess move up the January 20th injunction hearing.

 

What’s the best sign of progress? Commercials. Warner Bros. rolled out TV ads for the movie this weekend, still sticking to the March 6th release date– ironically, on the Fox network’s Sunday’s season premiere of 24.

New Frontiersman goes online, and other ‘Watchmen’ news

New Frontiersman goes online, and other ‘Watchmen’ news

  • News
  • January 9, 2009

In yet another example of print publications migrating online, The New Frontiersman has opened up a web site. It’s bare at the moment, but it’s expected to go live on Monday.

And according to AP, things are progressing on the movie release front:

Attorneys for rival studios fighting over the release of the superhero flick told a federal judge on Friday that they’re having fruitful settlement talks.

Attorneys for 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. asked the judge to delay a hearing Friday so those discussions can continue over the weekend.

U.S. District Judge Gary Allen Feess agreed to continue the hearing but says a trial over whether to block the film’s March release is still set for Jan. 20.

Lou Karasik, who is representing Fox, told Feess that the delay would be "very, very helpful" to settlement discussions he deemed "productive."

Friday’s revelation surprised Feess, who noted that Warner Bros. had been seeking to move up the Jan. 20 trial to next week, citing the film’s marketing campaign and its March 6 release date.

Also, Heidi MacDonald points us to Film Esq., which has the best play-by-play of the legal wranglings going on around Watchmen.

Watchmanga

Watchmanga

  • News
  • January 9, 2009


Please please please… is there anyone out there who can translate this from Japanese? Because if I can’t, I’m just going to have to assume this is either DC’s last chance to publish a successful manga book, or Warner Brothers’ fallback position if Fox scuttles the release date of the movie. (Hat tip: Mike Sterling.)

Fox and Warner go all in on ‘Watchmen’, will let judge decide instead of jury

Fox and Warner go all in on ‘Watchmen’, will let judge decide instead of jury

  • News
  • January 8, 2009

Here’s your latest test for geekdom: On January 20th, are you going to be more excited by Barack Obama’s inauguration, or by the court hearing to see if Fox can block Warner Brothers from releasing Watchmen?

The two studios have agreed to let Judge Gary Feess decide whether Fox is entitled to an injunction blocking release of the film, instead of going to a jury trial which would delay the release.  The hearing is currently schedule to begin on January 20th, unless the judge grants Warners’ request to move the hearing to an earlier date.

In addition to the agreement that the judge can decide the case, the two have agreed that neither will oppose requests to expedite an appeal.

 

My take? So it’s delayed. You kids today– you don’t even know what a delay is. I remember the months of delays just waiting for Watchmen #11 to come out, in the middle of a huge cliffhanger. Don’t even get me started on Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #3 or Camelot 3000 #12. (Oh, and while you’re at it, get off my lawn.) That said, I’m certainly looking closely at the outcome.

‘Watchmen’ Ruling Analysis

‘Watchmen’ Ruling Analysis

  • News
  • December 29, 2008

Jeff Jenson at Entertainment Weekly analyzes Judge Gary Allen Feess’ Christmas Eve ruling, clearly stating 20th-Century Fox has the copyright to The Watchmen film, granting them distribution rights.

"Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the Watchmen motion picture," Judge Gary Allen Feess said according to Variety.

“In his ruling, Feess concludes that Gordon never properly presented Fox with the option to produce and distribute the version of Watchmen developed by director Zack Snyder,” Jensen wrote.

“He also makes it clear that neither Gordon nor Warner Bros. had bought out Fox’s interest before Warner Bros. went into production. Indeed, Feess’ ruling includes a rather sarcastic footnote blasting Gordon for his conduct in resolving this dispute. In section 3, Feess remarks that during Gordon’s deposition, the producer claimed he couldn’t properly recollect his contract with Fox.”

Jensen notes that the summary judgment, which had been requested by both studios on December 16, “should be seen as an important move that really benefits all of Hollywood, as it affirms copyright laws that protect all studios. Fox deserves a break on Watchmen; according to Feess, their beef with Warner Bros. has always been legit.”

The two studios no doubt will be seeing a lot of one another in the coming weeks prior to the January 20 trial date.  As of today, the March 6 release date remains in place.

Judge’s Ruling Favors 20th Over Warner on ‘Watchmen’

Judge’s Ruling Favors 20th Over Warner on ‘Watchmen’

  • News
  • December 26, 2008

Judge Gary Allen Feess handed Warner Bros. a legal lump of coal on Christmas Eve, as he issued a brief ruling indicating 20th-Century Fox has the distribution rights to Watchmen, according to Variety.

His five-page ruling said, “Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the ‘Watchmen’ motion picture.”

Frees, over the fall, urged Warner Bros. and 20th to iron out their differences.  He repeated the suggestion in the document, saying, “The parties may wish to turn their efforts from preparing for trial to negotiating a resolution of this dispute or positioning the case for review.” Warner is set to release the film on March 6, 2009.

Fox acquired the rights from DC Comics in the 1980s with producer Lawrence Gordon’s production company.  When 20th lost interest, Gordon moved the project to Universal and Paramount Pictures before landing it with Warner, parent company to DC.

Fox contends that Gordon never obtained all rights from them and they have a controlling interest in the highly-anticipated feature based on the Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons comic.

Given the holidays, Freees promised a lengthier explanation prior to the January 20 trial date.  Warner Bros. had no comment on Wednesday.

Fox Going to the Wolves in ‘Bitches’

Fox Going to the Wolves in ‘Bitches’

  • News
  • December 22, 2008

Fox network has announced work has begun on a new hour-long series, Bitches, described by The Hollywood Reporter as “a dramedy about a quartet of female friends in New York who are werewolves.”

Given the November 2009 release of both The Wolfman and the lycanthropes in New Moon, plus the Big Bad Wolf in NBC’s Fables project, it looks to be a hairy fall.

Michael Dougherty (X2: X-Men United) is writing the script for Warner Bros. TV which received a pilot script commitment complete with penalties if no film is shot. Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts (Pepper Dennis) will serve as executive producers alongside Dougherty.

Dougherty wrote about werewolves in Trick ‘r Treat a Warner Bros, film that got dumped earlier this year and will be a direct-to-DVD release.

Charlie Wen at Work on ‘Thundercats’

Charlie Wen at Work on ‘Thundercats’

  • News
  • December 15, 2008

The pre-production work on the Thundercats movie proceeds apace with Charlie Wen’s impressive production art seeping online. Video game designer Jerry O’Flagherty (Gears of War) was named the film’s art director. The CGI movie is scheduled to go into production for Warner Bros. in 2009 for a 2010 release.  No cast has been announced to date.

Wen has previously provided artwork for the God of War I and II video games in addition to the Gatchaman movie.

 

Bryan Singer and Warner Premiere to Work Together

Bryan Singer and Warner Premiere to Work Together

  • News
  • November 26, 2008

Warner Premiere is known to ComicMix readers as the source for the cool direct-to-DVD movies featuring the DC heroes but they also produce original fare as well.  This morning, they announced a deal with director Bryan Singer to create a “cyberpunk sci-fi thriller” H+, “which picks up after a terrorist fries the brains of a segment of the population ‘jacking’ into the net”

The series will be written by John Cabrera (Gilmore Girls) and Cosimo De Tommaso, who will also serve as executive producers. They conceived of H+ as a television series but  Warner Premiere’s Head of Digital Content, Lydia Antonini, persuaded them to convert it to a web-based series.

The new series, to debut sometime in mid-2009, will be produced by Singer’s Bad Hat Harry Productions, the outfit that already gives us House.

Warner Premiere is dipping its toe into live action after working on numerous animated efforts including the recently unveiled Peanuts, a full animated comic web series. They have 20 original web series in development, some of which will go to video, some to the recently relaunched TheWB.com.

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