The Warners vs Fox wrangle over Watchmen continues, and while things are still on track for its March 6 release, someone, somewhere, is having a stress-relieving hot stones massage right this second purely as a result of tension occasioned by the entire thing. But with a trial date now set for January 6, the end is still some way off.
The crux of the matter is that Fox is arguing that it still has distribution rights to the film, based on a 1991 agreement. Warners, who has financed the new film, obviously disputes this. While neither side shows signs of backing down, it's in no one's interest to stop the film being released, so we're all optimistic that some sort of settlement will be reached in time for the release of the film.
In any case, the judge has ordered expedited discovery (a legal term which means "Show the other side all your paperwork already") but denied a preliminary motion to dismiss (in English, "I'll see you in court, Counsellor"), so the parties now have four months to examine each other's records, prepare for a case and work frantically on some sort of settlement on the side, before it all goes to court and out of their hands. Fingers crossed that it's all resolved, eh?