Aug 27 2009 Avatar v. Delgo: "Exhibit A: These Glowing Thingamabobs Look Like These Other Ones"
Whoever it is we've entrusted with making Delgos is pissed! While the rest of us briefly chuckled at the comparisons between Avatar and Delgo being made last week, Fathom studios is taking the issue way too seriously. The Delgo-making studio has issued a press release hinting that they may try to take legal action:
The much anticipated Avatar trailer was released online last week and viewer traffic overwhelmed Apple.com's trailer site. Almost immediately, reactions were posted on the internet with comments like "Avatar = Delgo," "Avatar is Basically Delgo II," [Hey, that was me! But I was kidding, guys.] and "The 7 Eeriest Parallels Between Avatar and Delgo."Fathom Studios, the Atlanta-based production company behind Delgo, was bombarded with emails as soon as the Avatar trailer went live. A spokesperson for the studio said, "From what we have seen, we are amazed by the visual similarities between the two films and we are reviewing what legal options may be available to us."
I really hope they end up taking this to court. I would kill be on the jury deciding if weird-nosed humanoids riding dragons and floaty, glowy, seed thingies are too similar to other weird-nosed humanoids riding dragons and other floaty, glowy, seed thingies. Though I have a feeling it's more likely going to come down to proving that James Cameron was somehow aware of Delgo when absolutely no one else was/is.
(via Movieline)
Mar 11 2009 Time to Sell Some of Those Fancy Cars, Cussler
You may have been content to let the memory of 2005's box office flop Sahara fade (you've probably even forgotten Dwight Schrute was in it), but not everyone can so easily erase the Matthew McConaughey adventure from their mind. Namely, our judicial system: Clive Cussler, author of the bestselling novel of the same name, has been in a legal battle with Paramount since '04, when he claimed they breached contract by not giving him final script approval. Cussler lost that battle in '07 at the cost of $5 million, and now Variety reports he's lost the counter-suit, which will cost him another $13.9 million to compensate Paramount for their legal fees unless he wins his appeal
So why is this relevant to you? Because it means we're definitely not going to have to bear another Dirk Pitt adventure starring Matthew McConaughey! We've all won today. Besides Clive Cussler.
Jan 16 2009 Phew, That 'Watchmen' Lawsuit Thing is Done
Well, you can stop worrying that Watchmen won't make its March 6 release because of the legal battle over rights. Deadline Hollywood and several other sources (thanks, everyone, for sending things here) are reporting a settlement has been reached between Warner Bros. and Fox:
The deal is finally done, and Warner Bros' highly anticipated Watchmen -- based on the comic book series/graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons -- won't be held hostage. I'm hearing that in tonight's settlement, Fox will not be an active distributor of the pic, but will receive up to 8 1/2% gross participation in the pic, and a piece of everything going forward including a sequel or spinoff, and a cash payment upfront including recoupment of its development costs and attorney fees, and god-only-knows what else.
Good thing they got the sequel and spinoff rights sorted as well. I don't want to go through this again for Watchmen 2, 3, & 4.
Jan 9 2009 Maybe We'll Get to See 'Watchmen' After All
Good news for everyone who's hoping Watchmen will keep its March 6 release date (pretty much everyone who would bother reading this site): attorneys on both sides have asked a federal judge to delay hearing today because settlement discussions have been so productive.
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."
Sadly, discussions may lose steam when attorneys actually start talking numbers, as the "productive" talks thus far have been limited to both sides agreeing that Watchmen is the best graphic novel ever and should really be respected as a work of serious fiction, not just a comic book.
And that's today's Watchmen legal update. (Thanks, Brandi.)
Jun 11 2007 Borat Lawsuit: Jeffrey Lemerond is a Giant Snatch
I think Jeff Lemerond might be this guy. Journalism is fun!
Another crybaby p**** has filed a lawsuit against the makers of the Borat movie. So who was it, you may be asking yourself. The Jewish couple? One of the crazy Pentacostals? One of the rednecks at the rodeo? Nope. It was Jeffrey Lemerond, a Dartmouth College graduate and financial analyst, who was shown running and yelling "Go away!" as Borat chased him down Manhattan's Fifth Avenue in an attempt to hug strangers.
Lemerond, or P**** von Twatsnatch, as his friends call him, is listed in the lawsuit as John Doe and will argue that his civil rights were violated. The case will of course cite legal precedents going back to the days of the founding fathers, such as the time Thomas Paine was pestered by the village homosexual in Worcester, Mass., who was later ordered to give Paine three pigs and a plowshare in restitution.
Jun 8 2007 Canuck Claims Knocked Up a Rip Off
Canadian author Rebecca Eckler is suing Judd Apatow, claiming Knocked Up is a ripoff of her novel of the same title. Astute iwatchstuff.com reader Kat actually pointed the similarities between the two stories last weekend.
She claims that while pitching her book to Hollywood producers, she learned of Apatow's project and the script, which she says had on it a picture of a martini glass with a pacifier around the stem -- the same as the cover of her book.
Jeez, you'd think if they were going to rip it off, they'd at least change the name. For his part, Apatow says:
"Anyone who reads the book and sees the movie will instantly know that they are two very different stories about a common experience," said the statement, posted on TMZ.com.
I haven't read the book, but it seems like the reason the movie was good was its biting sense of humor, which didn't rely all that heavily on the story. Plus, career-girl-gets-pregnant-by-accident just ain't that original of an idea. Still, if you are going to use an author's premise, you should at least buy the rights first. Even the Filipino boy I keep in my basement knows that.
