Siegel Superman Litigation Continues

The Siegel heirs have mounted a new attack on the agreement, according to Hollywood Reporter, alleging that even if the 2001 agreement that the court ruled was valid was indeed a contract, that DC did not perform under the contract. “DC anticipatorially breached by… demanding unacceptable new and revised terms as a condition to its performance; accordingly, the Siegels rescinded the agreement, and DC abandoned the agreement,” the latest filing says. The long-running legal battle between the heirs of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and Warner Bros. is continuing despite a big ruling at the appeals court level in favor of Warmers. 

The Siegels are also arguing that the Copyright Act does not allow contractually agreeing to transfer terminated copyright rights before they are terminated, a theory that has worked in some cases, but not in others. 

On the other hand, Warners has filed for summary judgment that its 2001 agreement with Siegel is enforceable, and says that it believes that the dispute can be “fully and finally resolved in the next 60 to 90 days.” Warners has a strong incentive to wrap things up; its high stakes Superman film, Man of Steel, premieres in June. 

Leonard Nimoy to Voice Sentinel Prime

It must be “add some illustrious vocal credits to your summer blockbuster" week. Just a day after Warner Bros. announced that Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush would be providing the voice of Tomar-Re in Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern movie, Paramount let it be known that the iconic Leonard Nimoy would handle the vocal chores for the robot Sentinel Prime in Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Sentinel Prime is the “ancestor” of Transformers “good guy” autobot Optimus Prime. In Dark of the Moon the wreckage of Sentinel Prime is found on the moon by the Apollo 11 Astronauts and brought to Earth where he adopts the vehicle disguise of a Rosenbauer fire truck. Nimoy, who is most famous for his role as Mr. Spock in Star Trek, is no stranger to the Transformers universe. In 1986 he provided the voice of Galvatron in Transformers: the Movie.

'Primeval' Movie Planned

Warner Bros. has picked up the movie rights to the British science fiction TV series Primeval, according to Variety. The show, which has aired in the U.S. on BBC America, tells stories of wormholes through which fierce futuristic and prehistoric creatures appear. The TV series is set in the UK; the movie will be set in the U.S.

Warner Plans 'Yogi Bear' Feature

According to The Hollywood Reporter Warner Bros. is developing a live action/CGI animated hybrid feature film set in Jellystone Park and starring Hanna Barbera’s classic characters Yogi Bear and his smaller, but smarter, sidekick Boo Boo. Ash Brannon, co-writer and director of Surf’s Up will helm the film, most of which will be done in live action though Yogi and Boo Boo will be CGI animated characters.

Yogi Bear’s insouciant character and vocal stylings were inspired by Ed Norton, the sanitation engineer played by the immortal Art Carney in the classic Honeymooners TV series (just as Jackie Gleason’s Ralph Kramden was “appropriated” by Hanna Barbera as the model for Fred Flintstone). Yogi Bear first appeared as a guest star on the Huckleberry Hound show in 1958. With his overly confident attitude (“Smarter than the average bear!”) and his never-ending search for “pic-a-nic” baskets, Yogi soon got a show of his own in 1961, a series that remains a staple on the Cartoon Network’s vintage-themed Boomerang network.

According to The Reporter Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia (That 70s Show, Tooth Fairy) are writing the screenplay for the as-yet-untitled Yogi Bear feature.

Fox and Warner "Watchmen" Feud Escalates

September 2, 2008

The legal battle lines have been drawn in the dispute between Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox over the rights to create a screen adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s Watchmen graphic novel. According to the New York Times, which reviewed papers filed in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday, lawyers for both sides have “laid plans for a frenzied fight.” Fox continues to request an injunction that would prohibit the planned March 6th debut of the Watchmen film directed by Zack Snyder, while Warner Bros. continues to maintain that there is no legal merit to Fox’s suit.

The dispute is centered on that murky corner of developmental hell known as “turnaround” in which a studio basically gives up on a project, but in order to save itself the potential embarrassment of a rejected film becoming a success for another studio, producers who take the project elsewhere have to give the original studio another look at the project anytime “changed elements” (new casting, new director, new script, new budget, etc.) come into play.

According to Warner Bros., Producer Lawrence Gordon offered the project to Fox once again in 2005 right before he took it to Warner Bros. The Times reports that Warners is asking for an April trial date, while Fox has called for a June trial. It appears likely that, if the dispute does go to trial, Universal, Legendary Pictures, and Paramount, who were all involved in the lengthy gestation of the Watchmen movie project, will “be drawn into the fray.”

While there are no signs of a deal yet, there is plenty of incentive to get one done. The slick Watchmen trailer has driven sales of the Watchmen graphic novel through the roof (see “A Million Copies of Watchmen”) and spurred excitement for the movie among a considerable fan base. The Watchmen movie is a potential 300-size Q1 hit for Warners, and irate fans are already considering a boycott of Fox films in retaliation against the studio's Watchmen lawsuit. If Fox does succeed in getting an injunction barring the March 6th debut of the Watchmen movie, it may well prove to be a Pyrrhic victory.