Fox wins game of chicken

As a court hearing loomed to potentially block distribution of its film, Warner Bros settled a lawsuit with Fox over who owned the rights to its $130 million action hero tale "Watchmen." The suit was settled Thursday evening, and clears the way to the planned movie release on March 6. The studios did not announce details, but an agreement made in recent days said that Warners would pay Fox as much as 8.5% of the film's gross receipts plus around $1.5 million to cover the movie's development costs, reports the Los Angeles Times. Fox sued Warners a year ago, alleging that producer Larry Gordon failed to properly secure the rights from Fox, where "Watchmen" had been in development. A federal judge ruled in December that Fox owned the copyright to the film, and had urged the studios to settle before a hearing next week when he was scheduled to decide whether or not to block the movie's distribution.