On Friday morning, lawyers for the rival studios Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox stated in front of a federal judge that they were moving towards a settlement of their bitter legal battle over rights for the superhero film “Watchmen.” They also asked the judge to delay a hearing on Friday so those fruitful discussions can continue over the weekend.

 

U.S. Federal District Judge Gary A. Feess agreed to continue the hearing and ruled last month that Fox owned distribution rights to the movie, stemming from its 1980s acquisition of the graphic novel, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. He also said that the trial over blocking the release of the film in March is still set for the 20th of January.

 

The film reached a cost of about $130 million, and Warner Brothers, which made the movie in partnership with Legendary Pictures and Paramount Pictures, planned on releasing it on the 6th of March. Misunderstanding appeared ever since before the shooting, when Fox stated that it actually owned the rights to the novel on which the film was based.

 

Directed by Zack Snyder, the filmmaker behind the 2007 hit “300,” “Watchmen” tells the story about the life of superheroes who have been rejected by their society. Fans consider it a defining title in contemporary comics history, but that is not enough to justify its costs.

 

The court fight has caught attention at Hollywood, where major studios have seldom pushed each other quite so hard over a movie that stood so close to release. Warner Bros. has been struggling to clear up uncertainty around the fate of “Watchmen,” in order to open the way for a marketing campaign that must begin if the audience is willing to connect with a film that has been considered a difficult proposition from the very beginning.