Warner Bros. Loses Rights to Superman's Origins

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Warner Bros. Loses Rights to Superman's Origins

Source:Variety

August 14, 2009

Variety reports that a judge on Wednesday ruled that the family of superman's co-creator, Jerry Siegel, has "successfully recaptured" rights to additional works, including the first two weeks of the daily Superman newspaper comic-strips, as well as portions of early Action Comics and Superman comic-books. The trade explains:

The ruling is based on the court's finding that these were not "works-made-for-hire" under the Copyright Act.

This means the Siegels -- repped by Marc Toberoff of Toberoff & Associates -- now control depictions of Superman's origins from the planet Krypton, his parents Jor-El and Lara, Superman as the infant Kal-El, the launching of the infant Superman into space by his parents as Krypton explodes and his landing on Earth in a fiery crash.

The article again mentioned that the studio and DC will have to start production by 2011 if they want to make a new "Superman" or "Justice League" movie.

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Posted by: Carl Lemon on August 14, 2009 at 02:30:02

Wow! Is he still vulnerable to Kryptonite? How about greedy families? Moronic Hollywood executives? What else can they a ALL do wrong?

Posted by: culvi on August 14, 2009 at 02:37:28

huh?

Posted by: Wakkidus on August 14, 2009 at 02:41:22

This is getting so weird.

Posted by: Calcifer on August 14, 2009 at 02:43:31

Just because they don't have the rights doesn't mean they can't use those aspects.

They just have to pay the Siegels. It does make me sad that Siegel and Shuster lost out so much on it. But the fact that their descendants are getting money through lawyer positioning doesn't sit quite right with me either.

Posted by: I Smell Disaster on August 14, 2009 at 02:45:21

What a shame! I think Warner Bros. will just scrap the idea of another Superman Movie and just replace him in the Justice League movie with Dr. Manhattan as the leader of the group. More blue penis in the big screen...I think after what Bryan Singer did to Superman's costume in the last movie, a naked Dr. Manhattan won't be all that surprising.

Posted by: unsocial on August 14, 2009 at 02:46:37

This makes me wonder... Made a comment once on an AICN talkback and posed this question.... What if Superman went to Marvel?

Posted by: senorashish on August 14, 2009 at 02:47:50

This is getting crazy as hell. I mean, I just hope it's as simple as Siegel and Shuster's heirs being paid by WB to use Superman's origins in film and what not.

Posted by: I Smell Disaster on August 14, 2009 at 02:49:36

Just don't make another Superman movie or Justice League movie...I'm not a big Marvel fan but atleast they're doing things the right way on that side...I mean as far as linking the Iron Man franchise to the other Avenger related superhero movies...and Marvel has it's own production company.

Posted by: yourdad on August 14, 2009 at 02:51:17

i already gave up on superman *sigh*

Posted by: bluemuffin on August 14, 2009 at 02:51:59

"What if Superman went to Marvel?"

Well, he would turn into the Sentry then.

Posted by: shadow of the bat on August 14, 2009 at 02:55:31

If the heirs ultimately decide on taking the character away from DC/WB I hope they make a JL film, and take advantage of thier last chance to bring Superman and Batman to the big screen together. They could make the story a death of Superman type story where he is shown to be totally bad*** and it leaves the possibility for sequels where the JL goes on without him, but as fans we can enjoy the fact that he was included in the universe, and was relevent to it's progression.

Best Case scenario is that WB develops a truely great Superman reboot by 2011 which will generate an impressive box office return, and convince the heirs to keep the property in thier hands where they stand to make more money off of potential sequels - rather than licensing the property to another studio where we can count on films that won't include modern superman villians like Darkseid, Doomsday, Brainiac, Metallo, Bizzaro, or Zod.

Posted by: sfx on August 14, 2009 at 02:55:41

What they need to do is make a film revolving around some of the more recent comics about Superman. How many times have we seen the stupid crash to Earth and Krypton exploding? Do something new - like Azzarello's "For Tomorrow". Sure, he's one of the most iconic properties on the planet, but still, I'm not sure why Warner Brothers is being so cautious. Just give us a bunch of action and a villain that actually tests Superman. The fault lies in his invincibility...

Posted by: Matt on August 14, 2009 at 03:15:14

If Warner want to do another Superman movie they need to do the Death and Return story arc. Granted that could (and probably would) go horribly wrong but from a marketing perspective it's the only way to inject the energy into the franchise to make it a viable competitor in today's superhero movie market.

Posted by: fras on August 14, 2009 at 03:23:47

The Siegels finally got their due, DC and WB has been milking their creations for decades, and for a pretty long time, the creators got nothing. All they have to do is pay the royalties and then go on with their planned movie.

Posted by: BryanSingerSucks on August 14, 2009 at 03:29:20

Whatever they do, JUST DON'T GIVE IT TO FOX STUDIO!!! FOX STUDIO HAVE **** UP X-MEN 1 TO 3 AND DRAGONBALL! A BIG NO NO FOR FOX!! PLEASE!!

Posted by: FuryusV on August 14, 2009 at 03:50:56

Superman's origins? It's called Smallville!!! Frickin' Hollywood!!!

Posted by: Spider-ham on August 14, 2009 at 04:11:53

This is the funniest news I've heard all day! Screw WB! Now we don't have to watch another Origin Movie! I'm so sick of them! Everyone knows Superman's backstory by now! Just make a good movie! Thats what people want! Being an origin movie isn't what makes them successful despite what hollywood thinks!

Posted by: Crisis on August 14, 2009 at 04:13:50

"his parents Jor-El and Lora, Superman as the infant Kal-El"

Weren't these names originally Jor-L and Kal-L? Seems like an important distiction for a court ruling to make.

Posted by: Jeramy PBF Studios RedbeardsBooty.blogspot.com on August 14, 2009 at 04:57:41

Actually.......that could be awesome. It may mean no more origin story recaps. If so, thank you whoever is responsible.

Posted by: David B on August 14, 2009 at 05:02:03

Can it really be the difficult, are most of us going to live to eighty, see interpretations of a lot of characters both Marvel and DC and find that DC/WB only got it right once with Christopher Reeve and Richard Donner?

Posted by: Yagyu on August 14, 2009 at 05:30:17

So they dont need to do the origin. We got smallville just pick up from the series get tom in the costume and make a damn good superman movie for once.

Posted by: Heath Ledger's Dead Corpse on August 14, 2009 at 05:37:46

LMFAO!!! Looks like there's no hope for this movie. All hail TDK!

Posted by: Crazy Davey on August 14, 2009 at 06:34:00

So... What does this mean for Smallville?! :(

Posted by: Me on August 14, 2009 at 06:39:45

So this means that smallville cant use jor-el anymore?

Posted by: troubleman245 on August 14, 2009 at 07:14:54

I wonder..With all of DC's recent moves at replacing Superman (Supergirl, Mon-El, and Nightwing & Flamebird) are they preparing for the eventual loss of the character? Mon-El will be a similar looking costume and replace Supes on the Justice League. Even Supes isn't wearing his traditional uniform.

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