Warner Home Video is finally releasing their own version of the Superman cartoons produced by Max & Dave Fleischer.  The seventeen classics have been in the public domain and collected repeatedly over the last 20 years.  Come April 7, though, the first authorized collection will be released.

In addition to the Paramount cartoons, released in 1941 and 1942, the two-disc set will include two extras: “The Man, The Myth, Superman” and “First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series”. The set will retail for $26.99 and if you have never seen these cartoons, they are well worth it

Studio 407 has announced a deal for its Hybrid series to become a motion picture to be directed by Ernie Barbarash (Cube Zero). The four issue miniseries has garnered good reviews and a trade collection will be released from Bluewater Productions on February 25.

The deal is part of an earlier agreement granting Myriad Pictures (Jeepers Creepers II) a first-look partnership.  Production on the film, which has yet to be cast, is expected in 2009.

Written by Peter Kwong, the story focuses on four friends who rent a schooner then discover a derelict trawler. When they spot a little girl waving to them, they feel compelled to offer assistance but quickly discover she is not alone. The story has ecological themes in addition to thrills, blood, and mutant creatures.

Studio 407 is a small studio run by managing director and film producer Alex Leung (Around the World in 80 Days).

Leung told ShockTillYouDrop.com, “We came out of Asia as an intellectual property/multi-media company that was started in Bangkok. From there we opened a small office there with four people and when I came back to Los Angeles, we started an office here and we got started with Myriad with the idea to not only use our comic books but to also develop genre material with them because they were very successful with Jeepers Creepers 2. They wanted to find a way to do more of those kinds of films. It just made sense because it’s what the market demands right now. A lot of their films they put together through foreign sales and pre-sales, and obviously a genre that crosses over really well is horror. We wanted to do more of these and we could provide a lot of that material, but we could also produce those films because we have experience in that field as well.

“The movie, if we’re lucky, will be out by the end of 2009. It’s skewing towards a straight horror title with it very much in the vein of the classic Creepy and Eerie comics. It’s a modern day Creature from the Black Lagoon with elements of Jaws. It’s very a much an old school creature feature but updated with an environmental angle, very much like The Host was. It’s a very subtle thing that’s set up in the beginning, then touched on lightly throughout.”

He praised Kwong scriptwriting abilities, making him perfect to take their concept for Hybrid and turn it into a comic to interest Myriad. “But what we went out with was a first draft and it’s rare that you can hook a studio right away just on the first draft. To be honest we did not expect Hybrid to happen. Basically, we told our investors not to expect any films in the first two or three years. So, we’re very fortunate to have two films going. Hybrid, as a matter of fact, is our second film.”

Studio 407 and Myriad have previously collaborated on the film Hunter.
 

McG showed off some footage from May’s Terminator Salvation to a gaggle of reporters then discussed the project.

 “The easy thing for us is that our movie happens after the bombs go off, so it’s a totally new beginning,’ he said of the film’s relationship to the timeline of the first three in the franchise. “Every other picture has been before Judgment Day. We’re largely treating it as though the bombs have gone off, but I’m not going to share exactly what year they went off. The movie itself is set in 2018, and we try our best to honor the timeline that has already been put in place.

“If we do our job properly, this movie will be regarded as a statement of the time and the place and the where and the when and the why and the how (of the entire franchise). Some things are set in stone though – the T-800 only comes around in 2029, and we’re building towards that place.”

Having said that, he noted that his film and the weekly Sarah Connor Chronicles series on Fox will have no relationship to one another.

Calling Josh Friedman, showrunner for the series, a friend, McG added, “I had a meeting with Josh, and I told him I wanted to honor it at all times but this is this and that is that. I know about episodic television, and what it takes to generate stories hour in and hour out every week…. We just can’t keeping chasing their story threads.” In other words, the alternate timeline of the TV series will remain on its own path.
 

Jeff Jenson at Entertainment Weekly analyzes Judge Gary Allen Feess’ Christmas Eve ruling, clearly stating 20th-Century Fox has the copyright to The Watchmen film, granting them distribution rights.

"Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the Watchmen motion picture," Judge Gary Allen Feess said according to Variety.

“In his ruling, Feess concludes that Gordon never properly presented Fox with the option to produce and distribute the version of Watchmen developed by director Zack Snyder,” Jensen wrote.

“He also makes it clear that neither Gordon nor Warner Bros. had bought out Fox’s interest before Warner Bros. went into production. Indeed, Feess’ ruling includes a rather sarcastic footnote blasting Gordon for his conduct in resolving this dispute. In section 3, Feess remarks that during Gordon’s deposition, the producer claimed he couldn’t properly recollect his contract with Fox.”

Jensen notes that the summary judgment, which had been requested by both studios on December 16, “should be seen as an important move that really benefits all of Hollywood, as it affirms copyright laws that protect all studios. Fox deserves a break on Watchmen; according to Feess, their beef with Warner Bros. has always been legit.”

The two studios no doubt will be seeing a lot of one another in the coming weeks prior to the January 20 trial date.  As of today, the March 6 release date remains in place.