Fox Execs Receive Early Christmas Present From Judge: U.S. District Court judge Gary Feess has ruled in favor of Fox in their lawsuit against Warner Bros. over the disputed rights to the Watchmen film. His decision stated that Fox “owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the Watchmen motion picture,†which basically means that the WB needs to cut a deal and that Fox will end up reaping millions and millions of dollars from fanboys on a film they didn’t have to produce or distribute. [HR]
Money and Me: Benefiting from the biggest wave of Jennifer Aniston interest since her famed Rolling Stone cover, Fox’s Marley and Me won the holiday weekend’s box-office crown by grossing an estimated $51.8 million in the Thursday-to-Sunday window. Her ex-husband didn’t do so shabby, either, as Brad Pitt fans drove The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to an incredibly strong $39 million haul over the four-day weekend. Adam Sandler’s Bedtime Stories came in a disappointing third, while eye-patch fetishists propelled Valkyrie to a fourth-place finish and a surprising $30 million take. [Variety]
If You Lead, I Will Sue You: Still reeling from their loss to Fox in the Watchmen case, the Warner Bros. television unit is now being sued by former Gilmore Girls producer Gavin Pollone for breach of contract. Pollone alleges that the studio owes his production company tens of millions of dollars because they underreported the show’s “modified adjusted gross.†If he wins, that money will likely be spent on coffee and quirky sweaters. [HR]
Balthazar Getty-ing Lost: And in news that comes straight from the rumor mill, respected Left Coast gossip blog Crazy Days and Nights is reporting that Balthazar Getty has been fired from the increasingly soapy ABC show Brothers and Sisters. As you’ll recall, CDaN was the first site to report that T.R. Knight would be exiting Grey’s Anatomy, so expect a statement from ABC and Getty to hit sometime after the New Year. [Crazy Days and Nights]