20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. have come to a settlement over the rights issue for the big screen adaptation of WATCHMEN and according to The Hollywood Reporter, both studios will present a joint statement of intent today to Judge Gary Fees that the case be immediately dismissed.

In the end, as we probably all expected them to, Fox agreed that cash pay outs was the fairest settlement.

Although we still await to hear how big the upfront payment is to Fox, it’s expected to be sizable. At least double figure millions and Fox will also take a percentage of WB’s final box office gross, which will obviously be the easiest money they will make all year. It’s % will be worth an awful lot as we expect WATCHMEN to be one of the most popular movies of the year, so the final figure will be of great interest whenever it is released.

And mostly importantly for us the fans, it means WATCHMEN will open March 6th worldwide and that Fox are not distributing the film and nor are they going to edit a single frame of the movie.

They settled for cash only and it’s probably a good thing, because their past record would suggest they are more likely to harm the picture than to enhance it’s prospects.

Released in a joint statement…

“Warner Bros. and Fox, like all ‘Watchmen’ fans, look forward with great anticipation to this film’s March 6 release in theaters.”

Now with 100% certainty, we can say we will be watching the WATCHMEN on March 6th…