Mark Wahlberg's Boston dream tough guy project The Fighter has finally found its footing. Jilted since Matt Damon, then Brad Pitt, then Darren Aronofsky dropped out, the film has landed on Christian Bale as costar and David O. Russell as director. The movie, about Boston boxing half-brothers Mickey Ward and Dicky Eklund, will begin production in July. Way to go, Wahlby. [Variety]

Screenwriter Jenny Bicks is one busy broad. After slogging through years of Sex and the City she was stationed on Men in Trees, then wrote the Ellen DeGeneres comedy Mother Nature, is doing a rewrite of pilot Washingtonienne, and has now landed a gig writing the pilot for an HBO project called Modern Love, which, yes is based on the New York Times feature. It's Bicks' first time writing a male lead, so wish her luck! Or, don't. Whichever. [Variety]

Here's America: more people watched the Lifetime Movie Network feature Natalee Holloway—about the Alabama teenager who disappeared in Aruba all those years ago and was most likely sold into white slavery—than have ever watched the net in its 11 year history. 3.2 million people, to be exact. Because everyone can relate to having their high school student daughter snatched or murdered or stolen off into the sea while she's on a chaperoned vacation. Either that, or people are just horrible creatures who point and coo at car accidents and search YouTube for footage of plane crashes and homicide investigations. So, congratulations LMN. You've found your stride. Can't wait for the Molly Bish movie. [Variety]

Just when you thought you'd finally seen the last of her, the Starter Grace may be back on your TV screens, shuffle dancing and mugging for your mild delight. Debra Messing may see her new single-camera comedy series picked up by NBC. Seems like a long time ago that Ned and Stacey got canceled, doesn't it? [THR]

Hm, there may be hope for bloodthirsty voyeuristic America yet. Oprah Winfrey has pulled a Columbine-themed episode of her show, saying it focused too much on the perpetrators of the school massacre, rather than their victims. So, that's regular decent of her I guess. Sucks, though, for Dave Cullen, who wrote a new book called Columbine that is apparently quite good, that he plugged on the never-to-air episode. That's like having a million dollars snatched right out of your hand. [THR]

Jena Malone has joined the cast of Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch!, as has the increasingly-busy Jamie from The Real World: San Diego. Evan Rachel Wood and Emma Stone are, unfortunately, out. [THR]

Photo via Bauer-Griffin

Drew Barrymore and her on-again, off-again puppy-ish ex-boyfriend Justin Long are set to star in a romantic comedy together, this one about long distance relationships. And if by "long distance" they mean the distance between canyons, like troughs of a wave, and how far away the isolation of fame can make you feel even when you're standing right next to someone, then I'm sure they'll both really bring something to their roles. [Variety] State of Play director Kevin Macdonald will travel a long distance... back in time, to direct The Eagle of the Ninth, a Roman-times story starring Jamie "Billy Elliot" Bell and possibly Channing "Shut Your Mouth and Drop Your Trousers" Tatum. Promisingly, the logline begins as such: "a wounded Roman soldier and his loyal Celtic slave..." Hm. [Variety]

Some British lad has joined the cast of the new Twilight movie, called Staking 2: Hectic Hullabaloo. Jamie Campbell-Bower, from Sweeney Todd, will play one of the Voltrons, an Italian clan of vampyrs. [Variety] Zack Snyder's "Alice in Wonderland with machine guns" Sucker Punch has found its lead. Emily Browning, that little girl from Lemony Snicket, will play an asylum inmate who creates a violent fantasy world in her head. She's joins such acting luminaries as Abbie Cornish and Vanessa Hudgens. [Variety]

Those tangled up in the flailing New York City film industry can step back from the ledge for just a second. New York State legislature has voted to extend the lucrative tax break program that buoyed the local industry for another $350 million worth of tax credits. TV shows looking to film in New York may be deterred by the new conditions of the program, though, as the credits are not open-ended. There are also strict limitations on how much of a break each production can receive. But still. Good news. [Variety]

The still reliably-employed Lucy Lawless has landed a new gig, one that returns her to familiar ground. She'll again be working with Xena: Warrior Princess creators Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi, this time on a series (for Starz, sigh) called Spartacus. She'll play the tough bosslady of a camp of gladiators. This comely fellow will play the title role. [Variety] Speaking of comely fellows, NBC and DirecTV have renewed their laboriously-praised joint venture Friday Night Lights for two more seasons. So more of Riggins and Hoodad and Whatshisnuts, ladies. Go team! [Variety]

The Wackness director Jonathan Levine is directing a movie for Fox Atomic about a babysitter. No, it's not some big-breasted young lady who gets horribly taunted and murdered, it's a boy who has funny things happen to him! The Sitter, which "will harken back to Adventures In Babysitting", is about a college student suspended for a semester who returns home to live with his moms. Then he has to babysit. Hilarity ensues. [THR]

MTV has ordered four more seasons of its crazy old coot of a series The Real World. This will bring the total for the 17-year-old reality thing to a haunting 26 cycles. The producers are currently filming a Cancun-set season, so where will these four new installments take place? Atlanta? Dallas/Houston? St. Louis? Orlando? Adamsville, RI? Emblem, WO? What do you think? Oh, also... four more seasons of Road Rules, too. So. [THR]

The graphic-novel-based movie saw its U.S. box office receipts fall 67 percent, while overseas the film fell 50 percent. So far, it has grossed $134 million in 10 days. It cost $200 million to make and market.

Box office normally falls in a film's second week, but Variety cites figures showing this tumble is especially bad.

Sorry, nerds: Warner Brothers might have made a hash of your beloved comic-book masterpiece, but the only lesson most studio heads will glean from its failure is that you're a finicky bunch who can't be trusted to reliably carry smash hits. All movies will be made for chuckling jocks and vapid celebutante-wannabes for the rest of the depression.

(Image via alt.nerd.obsessive)

Says our tipster, who just saw the film:

There is indeed shitloads of blue wang. And it's huge. In the comic book, it's very average, and uncut, but the film is completely the opposite. Massive and circumcised. Given that it's digital, was it Crudup or his agent that insisted on the impressive cut cock?

Perhaps Dr. Manhattan's foreskin is just one of the things restored in the uncut (ahem) version of Watchmen. Hollywood Outbreak has audio (captured here) of the director discussing filmdom's most notorious cerulean wang, and Snyder promises that in the eventual DVD, there is so much more big blue (in motion, even!) that even a magnum Watchmen condom couldn't contain it. Also, an initial foray into a 3-D version of the film got three WB executives pregnant; they are now required to turn their blue babies over to Fox.

• SUCH A FUSS [Hollywood Outbreak]

After one trailer where the radioactive member made a surprise appearance, all subsequent Watchmen footage has been frustratingly free of full-frontal. Thankfully, a Hollywood Elsewhere reader who managed to get into an early screening answered all of our burning questions (perhaps they wouldn't burn so much if we used protection?). In short, the amateur critic was disappointed at how inert and borderline campy the film was, blah blah blah, what about the wang:

"There were certainly no cheers at the end. About 80% of the audience rushed out of the theatre the second the credits began; minimal congregating outside. I did come across a group of three 20-something guys, holding their free give-away Watchmen posters, seemingly doing their best to talk themselves into liking the film.

"I almost don't want to spoil this for you, but there's a lot of blue penis in this film. Sadly, I'd say this was one of the few surprises and entertaining parts of the entire experience. It's not everyday that a mainstream Hollywood movie flashes blue Johnson!

This is true, since they deleted it from Frost/Nixon.

• That Whooshing Feeling [Hollywood Elsewhere]

We might have recommended that an initial extended look focus on fanboy favorites like Rorshach or Billy Crudup's blue wang, but instead (courtesy of the Sun) we have this mid-movie look at Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman) getting her heroic mojo back while rescuing children from a burning building. More dangerous than the threat of fire are Akerman's wig, indifferent line readings, and still-ridiculous-no-matter-how-many-times-we-see-it costume, which combine to make the actress seem like the inevitable Halloween version of the character she's supposed to be making iconic. Hurm, indeed.

• Watchmen explode onto the big screen [The Sun]

Not that he'll have anything to do with it, of course. Despite notoriously changing the ending of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' graphic novel, Snyder has long led the vocal charge against any franchising out from the equally devastating conclusion of his adaptation. He's not a total whore, after all; even he discovered limitations to his creative license, as elaborated in a cryptic, if amusing, weekend aside to the NYT:

We never did it, but we were going to do a limited release Bazooka bubble gum. I wanted Dave [Gibbons] to draw a comic book for me, and you had to collect all of them to make it make sense. I think it’s three panels per bubble gum, and you had to get 10 gums to make it all. And I was going to make a thing called Planet Rorschach. So you see this planet, and it’s covered with New York City. It’s like a planet of New York City. There’s no suburbs. There’s one giant Empire State Building, like Mount Olympus, in the middle of it. And hovering above the needle is [Dr.] Manhattan, blue, glowing.

But the planet’s going, “Hurm, hurm, hurm, hurm, hurm, hurm.” You can’t tell, it’s this big, deafening, “Hurm.” And as you get close, you go down into the city and the whole world is populated with Rorschachs. And they’re all bumping into each other, going, “Hurm, hurm, no compromise, hurm, hurm, Armageddon.” That’s basically it. So I was like, “Is that the movie you guys want to make?”

Probably not, though with a couple script polishes and a clever bit of Michael Jackson stunt-casting, a Rorschach spin-off may be just the kind of unlikely counterprogramming to win the Super Bowl 2011 weekend. Don't count it out.

• How Zack Snyder (Just Barely) Got ‘Watchmen’ to the Screen [NYT]

And no—your eyes are not deceiving you. A higher res copy of the top image reveals that those rice farmer extras are indeed genuflecting before Tron Guy, who's apparently picked up some fanboy side-work as a stand-in. Fret not, however, as all traces of his little Tron wang will be wiped away through the magic of CGI, and replaced later with the luminescent majesty of Billy Crudup.

• Exclusive: New Watchmen Production Pics [EmpireOnline]

Lawyers on both sides were scheduled to present their motion just minutes ago to Judge Gary Feess. THR reports:

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but the deal is said to involve a sizable cash payment to Fox and a percentage of the film's boxoffice grosses; Fox will not be a co-distributor on the film, nor will it co-own the "Watchmen" property, but it will share in revenue derived from it. The studios released a joint statement last night.

For those keeping score at home, that makes Fox and Fanboys the winners, and Warners and producers Larry Gordon, Lloyd Levin et al. the losers. For nostalgic purposes, we offer you a timeline of the ugliest studio battle in recent history:

July 08: · The public gets its first look at Zack Snyder's vision with a trailer cobbled together with what footage was yet available. Billy Corgan's banshee wail will forever be the soundtrack to 4 million spontaneous fanboy erections.

Aug 08: · What was thought to be some petty inter-studio bickering is quickly upgraded to "the Cuban Missile Crisis of fanboydom." Fox does the unthinkable, and suggests they'd rather have an injunction than a payout. Gasp.

· A Galactic Fanboy Republic convenes for an emergency session to discuss next steps. They emerge exhausted 48 hours later with their resolution: complain loudly on their Galactic Fanboy blogs.

Sept 08: · A court date of January 6 is set. Legal ball-dropping producer Larry Gordon begins to crap pants.

Oct 08: · Snyder continues to keep his head down and focus of getting his movie completed, which means making sometimes unpopular decisions. Eg. Cutting the Giant Psychic Squid ending, and airbrushing off Dr. Manhattan's blue wang.

Dec 08: · Judge Feess issues his ruling. Fox, already delighted with the performance of Marley & Me, declares it "The Best Fox Christmas Ever," allowing all employees one phone call to a loved one on Christmas Day.

· Both sides beat their chests and make "hoo hoo hoo" sounds, with neither studio making any gestures towards reconciliation.

· Glimmers of blue-wang light: THR points out that under "copyright law, a rightsholder still has to show, among other things, that it will be 'irreparably harmed' absent an injunction." Watchmen's opening day could be safe!

· In a promising turn of events, both sides agree to forego a trial of favor of a January 20th mediation.

Jan 09: · Watchmen producer Lloyd Levin produces a stirring appeal to the heart in the form of an open letter, in which he recalls how Fox had considered the project "one of the most unintelligible pieces of shit they had read in years." Fox countered that the same could easily have been said of Marley & Me, which of course was a proud, profitable property.

· We notice chilling similarities between Michael Jackson and Rorschach. Stare at the hole in the middle of his face: What do you see?

· Mentions of "productive" discussions through the weekend point towards a Silk Spectre-administered happy ending.

· It's Watchmen VJ-Day Eve!

• Warners, Fox settle over 'Watchmen' [THR]

In the original ending, sociopathic superhero Adrian Veidt attempts to avert nuclear hostilities between the U.S. and Russia by giving both countries a common enemy: a giant, psychic squid (drawn by artists who Veidt has kidnapped, then created using Veidt's powers) which Veidt will warp into New York City, creating death and carnage. If it sounds a bit silly to describe, Snyder must have had the same instincts, since word is that the squid has been scrapped entirely.

Instead, Snyder's Veidt (played by Matthew Goode) uses a machine he has invented to stud cities around the world with explosions, framing the deed on one of his fellow watchmen: Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup). The chilly Manhattan is weirdly OK with that idea, but then, Manhattan is kind of weirdly OK about everything.

Should Snyder invest in some beefed-up security, or will audiences be too exhausted by the film's nearly three-hour running time to care what happens at the end? We're tentatively on board with the change (frankly, we always felt that there were a few problems with the last act of Watchmen), but we'd advise Snyder to keep an eye out for masked vigilantes.

• Did Zack Snyder Change the Ending of ‘Watchmen’ to Make it More Like ‘The Dark Knight’? [New York]

The first thing he showed us was the opening credit sequence...With pin point accurate precision, we get shot after shot that’s filmed in slow motion where we see actual events mixed in with the Watchmen universe. We see Dr. Manhattan with JFK, Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias outside Studio 54, Dr. Manhattan on the moon, plus tons of other crazy things…as I don’t want to spoil it all. During all these shots we hear Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are a Changing, and it’s played throughout all the photos and filmmaker credits. While the song is under 4 minutes, they’ve clearly extended the song as the credits are 6 minutes.

What’s amazing about the credits is the way it slowly submerges you into the universe. The shots have a purpose and a motion, they’re almost 3D the way the camera moves in them. Trust me, after these credits end, every viewer will be entranced.

Also notable: the running time, which is said to be two hours, forty-three minutes. Back at Comic-Con, Snyder told Anne Thompson, "If Dark Knight got two and a half hours, Watchmen should get fifteen minutes more" — looks like he got his wish.

As Watchmen fans, we're certainly happy that the movie intends to follow Moore's vision so closely, but are there still elements of the original that could have been trimmed for running time? Call us heretical, but we can think of a certain climactic (and near-interminable) Ozymandias speech that could probably benefit from judicial pruning...

• Warner Bros. Showed 25 Minutes of WATCHMEN Tonight in Los Angeles [Collider]

Fox remains confident in its charge that producer Larry Gordon did not fully pay to reclaim the studio's Watchmen rights before shopping them to Universal, Paramount and, finally, Warner Bros., which greenlit the project with Zack Snyder after the success of the director's 300. And while we are no lawyers, having been disbarred months ago for our special brand of vigilante justice, shouldn't this be an open-and-shut case? If the terms are in writing and Warners' only apparent defense is that Fox sat by and waited until the film was finished shooting before raising objections, we sense the judge will have even more specific ideas of how restitution might be achieved. And it will feature numbers with many zeroes left of the decimal point. That Harry Potter bump looks more purposeful every day.

• 'Watchmen' to get its day in court [EW]

Which won't happen (at least we don't think so) but that doesn't make matters that much better. But whatever — we love a good Hollywood blood feud as much as anybody. Follow the jump for a morning-after summary, a few pressing questions and a bit of quick-and-dirty handicapping.

We can start by thanking Larry Gordon for both the vision and the legal gaps that first got Fox (the original studio to sign on for Watchmen), Paramount (the international distributor) and Warner Bros. (the studio that nabbed the film for Snyder as his 300 came together in late 2006) into this imbroglio. Deadline Hollywood Daily yesterday offered a helpful timeline of events that started with Gordon placing Watchmen at Fox in the late '80s and finally reclaiming it in 1994 when the studio nudged it into turnaround: "The 'turnaround notice' gave Lawrence Gordon Productions 'the perpetual right . . . to acquire all of the right, title and interest of Fox [Watchmen] pursuant to the terms and conditions herein provided.' "

And that should have been that; if and/or when Gordon took it elsewhere, he and his new partners cut a check. Alas, it never happened, says Fox, and while Judge Gary Feess didn't rule one way or another Monday, he denied Warners' request to dismiss its rival's claim to the rights that Gordon allegedly never bought back.

But how bad is it? Bad enough for Fox to publicly toe the hard line in stopping Watchmen's opening on March 6, 2009:

"Warner Bros.' production and anticipated release of The Watchmen [sic] motion picture violates 20th Century Fox's long-standing motion picture rights in The Watchmen property," Fox said in a statement. ... "We will be asking the court to enforce Fox's copyright interests in The Watchmen and enjoin the release of the Warner Bros. film and any related Watchmen media that violate our copyright interests in that property."

Yeah, right. Cooler heads will prevail here, especially with Warners and Legendary Pictures about $120 million in (plus at least $150 million in marketing to come, starting with its recent success at Comic-Con) and Fox not wanting to start World War III with an avoidable throat-slashing.

That doesn't mean someone won't bleed, of course — but who? Will Paramount, which itself had Watchmen ready to go before Brad Grey cleaned house in 2005, be edged out of some or all its foreign entitlement? Will Warners cut Fox in on gross, and how much will be enough — especially with a surefire franchise on its hands? David Poland crunched some messy, guessy numbers over at The Hot Blog, but we can't argue with his conclusion: "Don’t expect them to go away for anything less than $25 million. And they will take an amount like that now… because they don’t want to gamble either. 100% of WB’s profit could be $0."

But that's just where our questions begin. Would someone at Warners let us know what's going on in legal? This same thing happened with Dukes of Hazzard four years ago when the studio shelled out more than $17 million to an original producer. We know how boring it can be to do due diligence, but last we checked, it's still a job requirement, especially on 20-year-old projects in turnaround — twice.

Also, how much of Warner Bros.' sudden Harry Potter move to '09 anticipated Feess' decision? If Warners could conceivably lose money on Watchmen after factoring in Paramount and Fox's cuts, and its only summer tentpole, Terminator 4, is just something it's distributing for someone else, then Harry's switch may not be a matter of money it doesn't need in '08 but rather a cushion for money it planned to lose in '09.

That may be the most telling sign of its strategy to come — that and the spike in empty liquor bottles recycled on the lot this morning. And at least Fox finally got the really big summer hit it needed. Kudos, gang, you earned it.

• Warner's 'Watchmen' In Legal Peril... [DHD]

• One Year to Midnight [rss.warnerbros.com/watchmen]