According to The Hollywood Reporter Fox and Warner Bros. are “close” to reaching a settlement in their dispute over rights to Zack Snyder’s Watchmen movie that will allow Warners to release the film as planned on March 6th.  Lawyers for Fox and Warners met Monday in the chambers of Federal Judge Gary Feess.  Warner Bros., which has already spent at least $150 million to produce the Watchmen movie, has evidently dropped its request that Judge Feess move up the January 20th injunction hearing (see “Judge to Decide Watchmen’s Fate”).

One very positive sign occurred over the weekend as Warner Bros. rolled out a wave of TV ads for the movie with numerous spots on key cable networks and, somewhat ironically, on the Fox network’s popular 24 series.  According to the Reporter sources familiar with negotiations are indicating that the two sides are very close to a settlement in the dispute, which arose out various turnaround agreements that were negotiated as the Watchmen property bounced from studio to studios (see “Watchmen Still in Judicial Limbo”).