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Posts tagged as “Watchmen”

It's settled

As predicted, the cash machine triumphed in the end as Fox and WB reached a settlement for the Watchmen case.
Fox won’t co-own the money nor co-distribute it, but it will have a nifty “sizable cash payment” with a percentage on the film’s B.O. revenue.
As Nikki Finke loves to say over and over and over again: TOLDJA!

Now that that is settled, let’s move on.

NBC unveiled various announcements such as the premiere date of Amy Poheler’s show: April 9.
But still no name in sight.
I wonder how it’s gonna down in the TV Guide. “Tune in tonight for the thrilling premiere of NBC’s new hit show, The Untitled Daniels/Schur/Poehler Series.”
Also, no surprise, both The Office and 30 Rock have been renewed for another season.

In other news, TNT has ordered six additional scripts for Leverage.
New faces are joining SGU (which will actually premiere in the fall): Justin Louis, David Blue, Brian J. Smith and Jamil Walker Smith.
CBS has ordered the pilot for another comedy, Tick Tock, and FOX has greenlit two new dramas, Maggie Hill (a female heart surgeon suffering from schizophrenia) and Human Target (a security expert going undercover to protect targeted clients).

Oh, and a Jericho movie could be on its way.

Flash Bump

The Watchmen case seems to be fast-tracked and as predicted Fox and WB are on the verge of finding common ground.
Do I smell settlement?

Meanwhile, some other news have been popping up the last couple of days.

The HIMYM cast got a raise on their paycheck.
HBO has renewed The Life and Times of Tim (yay!).
E.R. is never going to end.
Swoosie Kurtz is going to stint on (dare I say Bryan Fuller’s) Heroes.
Mad Men‘s season 3 is indeed going to premiere this summer. With or without Weiner, although there’s probably as well going to be a settlement.

On the Flash Forward front, Robert J. Sawyer (the man behind the original book) is often making comments on his own blog about the project and seems very pleased about it (as in the polar opposite of Moore’s feelings towards the Watchmen movie).

Sawyer has also confirmed the epicness of the show, comparing it to Lost, and how Goyer and Braga “have mapped out five seasons of Flash Forward” (110 episodes).
Rob Sawyer will as well probably write a couple of episodes.

Besides this, there is an interview out with David Goyer posted on SciFi Wire about the show.
Goyer tells that the season-format will not be too dissimilar to 24‘s as each year hitting reset and having its own flash-forward, with a glimpse of what is to come at the end of the preceding season.
I must admit I am kind of disappointed with that formula.
Heroes failed miserably and 24 really dragged on after the first couple of years.
But then again, those shows weren’t planned beyond the season.
Still, I would have preferred the one major flash-forward across several years instead of four that could ultimately reduce the magnitude of the first one.

The premiere is currently set for Fall ’09, with the first season starting to shoot Feb. 21.

Didn't see that coming

And my first news of the year is…


Matt Smith has been cast as the new Doctor Who lead.

At 26 years old, he will be the youngest to take on the role.
Quite a shocker.

Meanwhile, the world seemed to have continued moving forward whilst I was gone, with further development to the Watchmen lawsuit between Fox and WB.
Guess what: there’s gonna be a trial.
Judge Feess, from the United States District Court for the Central District of California, has ruled in favor of FOX. Stating that the studio has at least distribution rights to the movie.
You can read his ruling over here. Pretty interesting. And pretty readable.
A hearing on a possible injunction is expected to happen to decide remaining issues such as the amount of rights Fox has over the franchise and if the release date for the movie can actually be blocked.
The injunction should take place on Jan 20.
So, is the judge anti-Obama or what?

Anyway, I hope they will quickly settle.
If FOX wins some stake in the B.O. result, I’m not sure they would anyway want to move the release date since it would just result in confusing viewers, ergo less B.O. revenue.
And no, that’s not like that Harry Potter move.

What an excellent start to the year, don’t you think?