In an odd turn of events, Warner way be forced into putting another Superman movie into production before 2011, or else it may lose the film rights to the character. The studio and DC Comics have been locked in a legal battle with the heirs of Man Of Steel creator creator Jerry Siegel, with the main contention being that as both Warner and DC have the same parent company, they entered in a sweetheart deal over the rights, giving them to Warner at a fraction of their actual value, and therefore depriving Siegel’s estate of potential revenue (they earned the right to 50% of the Superman copyright at an earlier hearing).
However a judge has now ruled that Warner didn’t pay below market value, or as the judge put it, there was “insufficient evidence that the Superman film agreement between DC Comics and Warner Bros., whether judged by its direct economic terms or its indirect ones, was consummated at below its fair market value.” However he did say that it was peculiar that there was no clause in the contract that handed the rights back to DC and the Siegels if the studio didn’t do anything with the property for a certain period, as if the normal case in Hollywood. As a result he said that if the studio didn’t put a Superman movie into production by 2011, the Siegels could sue to get the rights back.
It’s also been asserted by the Siegel’s lawyer that the entire copyright to Superman will be owned by the creators in 2013, which means Warner now has to start taking action if it wants to make another Superman movie and hang on to its rights. As part of the case the studio said it wasn’t sure what its plans were for Superman and it was unlikely a new movie would appear before 2012 at the earliest, but it’d appear that they now need to get a move on.