Supreme Court Says Sixth Superman Series......Seriously.

Okay gang, another bit of news concerning the Warner Brothers studios came out, and got looked over by the recent events in entertainment. (Well, Michael Jackson's memorial really was the biggest recent event in entertainment). Anyway, Variety is reporting that the Warner Brothers/DC Comics legal issues with the family of Superman Co-creator Jerome Siegel recently went the way of WB/DC.

Basically, the case was that the heirs say that WB paid a "lower price" to DC in order to get the license fees for the movies. Commonly called a "sweetheart deal" in legal-backroom-speak, this is something that happens between two companies that have a record of dealing with each other. WB claimed that they were paying "full and fair" market prices for the licenses fees to DC for the Superman franchise. Well, the US District Courts ruled in WB's favor, saying that they did in fact pay "full and fair" market value.

Which is somewhat of a blow to the heir's future claims in court. Now, instead of being part of a lawsuit trying to get a piece of the profits from the movies, they are only allowed to continue receiving a claim on the profits of the Superman COMICS only. Which isn't something to ignore since DC Comics took in $13.6 Million profit from being tied into the Superman Returns movie ALONE. Of course that does NOT include DC Comics profits from the TV rights for Smallville (Around $18.5 Million) and any other format that Superman appears in. (Which includes the animated shows, direct-to-DVD, books or games). So there is some serious money being talked about in regards to the heirs. Even if it's simply a 1% of the profits that are supposedly handed over to the family, you are looking at Millions of dollars being handed out. While a lot of people would just give them a 1% and be done with it, the family is actually seeking roughly 5% of the profits from ALL formats that use the Superman character. And while the TV show Smallville can run up to $45,000 per episode in TV rights, you can see how this is something that will quickly run into Millions of dollars for DC Comics. So, it's no surprise that they will fight to keep as much as possible.

Both companies released a joint statement in a letter that stated: "DC Comics and Warner Bros. Entertainment are very gratified by the court's thorough and well-reasoned decision in this matter. The decision validates what DC and Warner Bros. have maintained from the beginning, which is that when they do business with each other, they always strive for -- and achieve -- fair market value in their transactions. We are very pleased that the court found there was no merit to plaintiffs' position that the Superman deals were unfair to DC Comics and, by extension, the plaintiffs"

There is another court date for Dec. 1, to determine how much the heirs could receive. Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen G. Larson ruled for the family giving them roughly half the copyright for Superman material.

But what we have now is something that is really strange. It seems that Judge Larson also ruled that if Warner Brothers doesn't start production on another Superman movie by 2011, the Siegel family will be able to sue again for recovering further damages. The Siegel family are also looking forward to seeing how much the courts will award them in money. Which is an odd situation for Warner Brothers to be in, since it was also reported that Brandon Routh's contract to PLAY Superman in any future films has expired. (Click here for story) Being court ordered to start up another movie production, when all the major players of the last film are either working on something else or no longer signed to be part of it makes it odd for Warner Brothers. I guess that makes the Superman: The Man of Steel (rumored title) project back in action..... unless, they want to pay more.

I personally hope that the reboot rumors for this movie are true. It's time to get Superman back in the skies again.