Legal Mumbo Jumbo Says We'll See Superman Again By 2011
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By Dave Gonzales on
July 09, 2009
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Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, Brandon Routh’s contract expiring, no script for future installments and arguments over the transfer of Supes rights from DC Comics to Warner Bros have all been obstacles the Man of Steel has had to overcome this decade. If these problems were made manifest, by comparison, they would be the tallest, un-boundable building and something much faster than a speeding bullet.
But, that might have changed thanks to a recent court ruling: Prepare to get your legal on!
Superman was created by Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1932. In 1938, the character was sold to DC Comics for $130 who debuted the Kryptonian on June 30th, 1938 in Action Comics #1. From that issue on, Siegel and Shuster were hired at DC to develop the character. Things like Kryptonite, Superman’s ability to fly and Lex Luthor were not added to the character’s mythology until later issues owned by DC under a “work for hire” clause.
However, as of 1999 the heirs of the Siegel estate have been suing for profits obtained from this odd copyright/trademark neutral zone due to legal precedence I don’t understand (but if you must know, I suggest the UncivilSociety.org blog HERE).
The latest, cinema-related case has to do with the selling of the character to Warner Bros, who currently has development rights to DC properties. The argument is that certain aspects of the Superman character still belong to the creator’s heirs and DC/Warners were conducting “sweetheart deals” where rights were sold below market value, actively screwing over the Seigel estate, who was not part of negotiations and didn’t get paid. It was the opinion of the estate that DC/Warners had screwed them and they had the right to sue for Supes money.
Yesterday, U.S. Judge District Court Judge Stephen G. Larson ruled that the deal made between DC and Warner Bros was not a “sweetheart” deal and was made at or above market value. Judge Larson reviewed the deals for other comic book properties such as Iron Man, X-Men and Spider-Man. This means that the Siegel estate can only sue DC Comics for a portion of their $13.6 million in profits from Superman Returns. Warner Bros and their profits are off the table.
Attorney Marc Toberoff, who represented Joanne Siegel and Laura Siegel Larson in the case was gracious in defeat, highlighting the greater issue at hand in his statement to the press: "This trial was only an interim step in the multifaceted accounting case which remains, in that it only concerned the secondary issue of whether DC Comics, or DC Comics and Warner Bros., would have to account to the Siegels. To put this in further perspective, the entire accounting action pales in comparison to the fact that in 2013, the Siegels, along with the estate of Joe Shuster, will own the entire original copyright to Superman, and neither DC Comics nor Warner Bros. will be able to exploit any new Superman works without a license from the Siegels and Shusters."
What does that mean for us? Warners Chairman Alan Horn testified that Warner Bros is very interested in making another Superman film, but development hadn’t progressed to the script stage and the earliest a Superman movie could come out would be 2012.
In the ruling, the Court stated that if Warner Bros doesn’t start production on a Superman film by 2011, the Siegels will be able to sue for damages.
Long/short: It’s in the best interest of Warner Bros and their legal fees to start production on a Superman film in the next two years.
But, we may get to see Clark Kent on screen earlier than that. MTV’s Splashpage managed to get a word in with Marc Guggenheim, the co-writer of the Green Latern movie who said that Clark Kent and Hal Jordan might end up sharing a cinematic world if the easter eggs he’s written into the film survive production and don’t end up on the cutting room floor:
“Honestly, it changes on a daily basis. Whatever information I gave you today would be obsolete in a week, and maybe come back again in two weeks,” said Guggenheim. ” And even if it wasn’t in flux at the script stage, it would still be constantly in flux because you can film it, put it in the original cut, and eventually it could end up on the editing room floor.”
[…]
“I will say, all the Easter Eggs and the cameos that I put in, I couldn’t even begin to predict at this point which ones will stay and which ones will go,” he said. “I’ll be as interested as anyone else to see what we end up keeping and losing by the time the picture is actually locked… and that’s pretty far away from now.”
Much ado about Superman, for sure, but the lawsuit marches on. Interestingly enough, there’s an entire separate lawsuit with the Seigels suing for the rights to Superboy. Minor spoiler, but does that open up Superman Returns to a whole series of new lawsuits from the heirs?
For a alien that wears tight spandex when he’s fighting crime, I didn’t expect his biggest problem he’d have would be the mind of Bryan Singer.
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Tags: Superman: Man of Steel, News |
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