The legal battle for the U.S. Copyright of Predator between the Thomas Brothers and 20th Century Studios has just been extended out a little further, Predator fans.
The monumental Motion Hearing scheduled to decide if new Disney-era Predator content should be stopped until all the legal disputes are resolved was initially scheduled for May 27th, then later was moved to the 3rd of June. Well now we have to wait a little bit longer due to what the court describes as “scheduling issues”.
Per the Court:
“Thomas et al v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation et al
CLERK’S NOTICE Continuing Motion Hearing.The court has some scheduling issues related to the criminal calendar and continues the hearing one week to 6/10/2021 at 9:30 a.m..”
This Motion Hearing is important to Predator fans because a preliminary injunction could potentially stop (per court order) the new film “Skulls” from continuing production, which is currently slated to begin filming this Monday.
Now thanks to this second postponement, the fifth film in the Predator franchise will unfortunately begin production under a cloud of legal uncertainty, which can’t be ideal for the cast and crew.
So will this June 12th Motion Hearing result in good news for “Skulls”? All we can do is continue to wait, while hoping this is the last of the delays to come.
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EDIT
For clarity, I get you now.
Err, this is exactly what I just replied with.
And I never said it was the judge's concern to make up time lost, but they have to consider the damages of doing so, i.e. factor those losses during a preliminary injunction decision.
The question comes down to is it going to be weighed on the fact the nearest claim date was ostensibly in error and therefore wouldn't pass, or the '23 end date is valid and will pass? Would the latter even justify issuing an injunction? Time will tell.
I don't think we have a definitive answer on that, but personally I don't believe filming was delayed. If they were that afraid, why fly the cast out there rather than push it off a few more weeks? Plus Kyle Strauts announcing hours before production starting "I could not be more excited for this next adventure", kind of felt like a confirmation (at least to me) that things were proceeding as plan.
You're thinking the ruling. A ruling would be solely based on the legal facts of the case. The ruling comes after the trial, after all the facts of the case are argued.
We're talking a preliminary injunction which is pre-trial. Before both sides argue their case. Before all facts are heard. Before one side is ruled in the right. So in addition to the strength of the case, outside factors have to come into play with a preliminary injunction, ramifications to both sides if the Judge orders one way or another, is the way I understand it.
Their responsibility is to make a judgment about the case on legal grounds. Millions of dollars lost and people sent packing is the studio's fault and problem, and would be a consequence of them not tying up loose ends in a timely manner.
Setting a precedent of basically letting studios hold people's jobs hostage to get what you want would have awful repurcussions and isn't something we should be hoping for
If the injunction isn't passed I hope it's based on the legal facts of the case, not an emotional plea of the studio.
This pretty much echoes my thoughts as well.
The ruling though is an entirely different matter. But by time a ruling will come down, the filming of Skulls will have long since been completed, maybe even released (by the way these cases can sometimes get drawn out.) But if the Thomas Brothers win, I would imagine license compensation from 20th Century Studios for Skulls will certainly have to go the brother's way retroactively.
So are you now more of the mindset that this judge doesn't pass an injunction and production continues forward no matter the ruling later?
So you don't subscribe to the theory that Disney bribed the court to delay the proceedings?
Removed from all that, in all seriousness though, I do personally believe that being in the process of filming gives 20th Century Studios a definite extra edge here, soley in regards to the preliminary injunction and no looming airtight precedent. Because imagine the Judge putting an injunction on Skulls stopping production and sending everyone packing, costing the studio millions of dollars. Then the trial occurs and ten months later the ruling goes in favor of the studio confirming they do have the rights until January 2023. Sorry about that. The Judge can't magically recreate the time lost, the jobs lost and reimburse the money spent. So I believe all this will be certainly argued in front of the Judge, an aspect already somewhat stressed in their legal filing.
Me too.
Is it really Disney delaying and playing games, because all I read in the article is that the court's had a scheduling issue. I'm not sure Disney is playing any games. I'm betting they want this to be resolved as quickly as possible.
Hm. I was replying to another comment and I suppose it was deleted because it has me responding to you again, Nukiemorph. So, ignore that second part, unless you yourself have thoughts on it.
I like this premise a lot, so I hope this movie happens.
This stuff is stressing me the heck out. And now I'm even more stressed because filming is going to start and then suddenly the rug could be pulled out from under them and us.
https://www.avpgalaxy.net/2021/06/02/court-delays-countdown-again-to-predators-motion-hearing/