'Watchmen,' 'Superman' Facing Road Bumps

In separate problems, "Watchmen" faces a lawsuit from a studio that says it has the motion picture rights to the graphic novel while Superman may be looking at yet another reboot.

Warner Bros. is facing a lawsuit by Twentieth Century Fox that got a boost Monday when a judge in Los Angeles allowed the legal entanglement to move forward in court.

Warner Bros. already has a $120 million version of the graphic novel from Alan Moore already finished and ready for release, but Fox says it has owned the movie rights since the late 1980s.

Fox reportedly gave up some of its rights to the novel in 1991, but not the movie rights, and are now suing asking the court to enforce its copyrights and actually stop Warner Bros. from releasing the film.

It's unlikely that such a move would force Warner Bros. to shelve "Watchmen," but it would likely mean that the studio may have to fork over a hefty settlement to Fox if the case continues to move out of their favor.

The Superman franchise isn't facing copyright injunctions and the like, but Warner Bros. certainly has its hands full in trying to decide what to do next.

The studio apparently has called the 2006 Bryan Singer version of the film a "misfire," mirroring earlier reports, and could be looking at doing a reboot similar to what Marvel did with "The Incredible Hulk," according to Dark Horizons.

That already seems to have had a profound effect on the proposed Justice League movie, which has been moved into hiatus even as Marvel looks to get its competing Avengers film together.

We're going to make a Justice League movie, whether it's now or 10 years from now," Gregory Noveck, senior vice president of DC Creative Affairs, told Variety. "But we're not going to do it and Warners is not going to do it until we know it's right."

The Justice League project had suffered considerably from the fact actors from neither the Batman or Superman franchise were committed (or even interested) in taking part in the film, and even Singer himself said it would be a bad idea to do a Justice League movie while the two franchises were trying to gain footholds.

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