The heirs to "Superman" co-creator Jerry Siegel filed suit against both DC Comics and Warner Bros. in years past claiming they were robbed of money throughout various dealings over the years. On Wednesday, a US District Court judge ruled that the Siegels are only allowed to seek profits from DC Comics and not Warner Bros, who obviously had a hand in "Smallville" and the SUPERMAN movies.
OK that's all well and good but what does it mean to the SUPERMAN film franchise? Warner Bros. head Alan Horn testified at the trial about the future of the SUPERMAN franchise at the studio saying that while they "hoped" to make another film, "the property wasn't under development" and "no script had been written." Perhaps even more interesting was the court's ruling that if Warner Bros. did not begin production on a new SUPERMAN movie by 2011, "the Siegels will be able to sue to recover their damages."
So will it be worthwhile to actively begin developing a SUPERMAN movie so that production can begin in two years? Considering how long it took to get SUPERMAN RETURNS made that's not exactly a lot of time...
Extra Tidbit:
In 2013 the rights to "Superman" revert to the families of Siegel and co-creator Joe Shuster and no related property may begin without a license from their families.
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5:06PM on 07/11/2009