U.S. District Court Judge Gary Allen Feess denied a request by Warner Bros to dismiss a lawsuit brought by 20th Century Fox over rights for the highly anticipated big-screen version of the popular comic book "Watchmen," written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons.

It appears that the issue is very complicated. It is quite clear that Warner Bros acquired rights to The Watchmen, nobody is so crazy as to invest money in a movie for which it did not have rights. And indeed, Warner Brothers entered into a quitclaim agreement with Larry Gordon in May 2006, under which it claims to have acquired the rights to the Watchmen. The problem is that, according to Fox' version, the latter had retained distribution rights in the project, partly because Gordon had not perfected his interest in the Watchmen before quitclaiming it to Warner Brothers.

Meanwhile, the $120 million movie (according to rumors) was heavily publicized and now faces possible doom, as apparently Largo Entertainment producer Larry Gordon failed to buyout Fox' rights before giving them to Warner Bros. Meanwhile, Warner said in a statement that it respectfully disagrees with Fox and does not believe they have any rights.

The Watchmen movie was slated for a March 6 release next year. The flick tells the story of superheroes who have fallen into disgrace and personal problems.