dave gibbons Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Things rarely go smoothly for costumed adventurers -- and the courtroom, it seems, is no exception. Nikke Finke reports that a federal judge has denied to dismiss 20th Century Fox's legal claim on Watchmen. You may remember that they filed a lawsuit back in February claiming that their rights to the DC property still held. They seek an injunction to prevent Warner Bros' adaptation of Watchmen from being released at all.
And at this point, that federal judge agrees with them.

Warner Bros, obviously, cries foul. They point out that several studios have tried to develop the property for years, with Fox saying nary a word, and passed up the chance to properly reacquire the rights some time back. Their view of the lawsuit is that it's just an opportunistic grab on a movie that has been gaining more and more buzz. You can read the whole legal chronology over on Deadline Hollywood (Finke's done a top-notch job of documenting the ins and outs) and see which side you come down on. It's exhausting -- isn't this what studios have lawyers for? To avoid this kind of last-minute litigation lunacy?

It's unlikely that the movie will really be delayed -- but it is possible that Warner Bros. will have to hand Fox a substantial chunk of change in order to release the film, as they had to do for Dukes of Hazzard some years back. As one of Finke's readers noted, suddenly the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince schedule shift makes a lot more sense. The studio's 2009 budget could be pretty tight.

Watchmen opens (hopefully) March 6th, 2009.

Let us close out the week with a third Watchmen story, shall we? Dave Gibbons, the artist behind the iconic book, gave an excellent interview to Den of Geek. Of course, the first questions directed at him centered on the upcoming movie -- and while he's not officially involved, Gibbons visited the set and blogged about it in December. He has been unfailingly supportive of the film and all involved; the guy even created the first promo poster handed out at 2007's ComicCon.

He was a little more guarded during this interview, but still admired what he had seen of the filming: "The most important thing is that the Watchmen movie be a good movie. From what I've seen of it, I think it is going to be a good movie, and I think it's going to be as faithful to the original graphic novel as is possible, given the constraints of a movie and the nature of a graphic novel. I think that as long as it's true to the spirit of the comic book, and as long as – in broad strokes - it follows the plot and the characterisations ... I don't think you can ask for every individual detail to be replicated. There are hardcore fans out there who'll be satisfied with nothing less than a word-for-word, line-for-line, scene-for-scene recreation of the comic book. I didn't believe that was ever going to happen. Certainly, from what I've seen of the movie, it looks like it'll be a good movie and very faithful to the comic book. If it isn't, it won't be for want of trying. Everybody's using the graphic novel as their bible, and really doing their best to pay tribute to it, I think. "

Bit by little bit on his blog, Zack Snyder has been pulling back the curtain to reveal his big-screen vision for Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen. Last up was some shots of Gibbons' visit to the set, and now Zach is sharing some storyboards that he made for the film -- two pages that feature Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley). As he explains it: "Alongside the graphic novel, I always keep a copy of my storyboards with me on set." He goes on to explain how they're a vital part of his process to envision how the film will look from beginning to end. This vision, from all that has been shown thus far, and nibbles I've seen that are yet to come, looks like it will definitely be bringing Watchmen to life. Stay tuned! Maybe next time we'll get to finally see Nite* Owl's ship.

Well, we probably all should have seen this coming when you consider that Alan Moore seems to hate the movies Hollywood makes from his works just as much as Hollywood loves to make them. In an interview with Wizard Universe, the comic book legend spoke about his current involvement (or lack thereof) in Zack Snyder's big-screen version of Moore's Watchmen. According to Moore, he has officially (read, legally) washed his hands of the whole thing. Moore says, "I got a piece of paper a couple of months ago saying, "I, the undersigned, hereby give you permission to take my name off of the film and to send my money to Dave Gibbons." So I sent that back to them all signed and sealed, which means that now I don't have to rant and spew about the film. I'm just simply not interested in it". Watchmen is one of the most respected comic books out there, so you can imagine there is a lot riding on Snyder getting it right. There has already been plenty of discussion about casting choices, but so far, most fans seem to be cautiously optimistic about the whole thing.

In the past, Moore has battled with filmmakers over other film versions of his books like V for Vendetta and the famously crappy The League of Extraordinary Gentleman. But it would seem that Moore has learned something this time around, and instead of kicking up a fuss, he just walked away from the whole project. As for Moore's original Watchmen collaborator, Dave Gibbons, he seems a lot more positive about the whole thing. On the official production blog for the film, Gibbons waxed poetically after viewing the sets, saying, "Finally, tired but happy, arms around my new buddies, costumed and otherwise, it's my turn to smile for the camera. A month later, I'm smiling still". Well at least someone sounds happy about the whole thing. So while this is the last we are going to hear from Moore on the subject, that doesn't mean there won't be plenty more Watchmen updates to come before the film hits theaters on March 6th, 2009.