It's hard to believe but it could be that after Watchmen has come so far through so many different attempts to bring it to the big screen it could be that just as it finally gets made and is preparing to be distributed to the world that the courts could stop it.

A Judge has already ruled in favour of 20th Century Fox who are battling for the rights to Watchmen, the film of which is already speeding towards completion over at Warner Bros. who believe they own the rights.

If this continues then Watchmen might just not be seen.

Apparently a Federal Judge has ruled that Warner Bros. motion to try and dismiss a court case over the rights to produce and distribute a film based on the Watchmen comic series holds no ground, and it has been dismissed.

What that means is that 20th Century Fox can continue with their court case to battle for the rights to the Watchmen, rights which Warner Bros. believe they own since they've gone ahead and developed, produced and are setting themselves ready to distribute the ultimate superhero film, a film that they said could never be made.

Although this doesn't mean that the Judge agrees that Fox have a right to the property, it does ean that he has ruled in favour of them and will allow their lawsuit, which was raised on February 12th of this year, to go ahead.

The story from Deadline Hollywood Daily is shocking, because worst case scenario it could mean that we'll not see the film version of Watchmen coming to our screens until the case is settled, and even then perhaps never.

I seriously doubt that though, the most that this will mean is that Warner have to pay Fox a bucket load of money, and what does that really matter when you've just adapted the biggest comic book in the world, and possibly in the most faithful and exciting comic adaptation to date?

In reality this could mean some delays for the release while the legal battle continues and they hammer out who gets what profits wise, but I think it would seriously harm Fox's reputation if they really sought to stop the release of the film.

Nikki Finke says she has been told the courts are still considering Fox's motion for an injunction, so things are still well up in the air, what this means so far is that Warner Bros. have not managed to stop the lawsuit dead in it's tracks and it is going to progress through the courts.

What we have to hope is that this doesn't affect us film fans and that we get the chance to see the film regardless of what's going on in the courts.