Who Watches The Watchmen?

No one, if Fox has their way.

The whole thing smacks of pettiness on Fox's part. The idea that Fox executives would actually prefer blocking the film's release to getting a cut of the profits seems absurd, but then again, this is Fox. Even they can't be that stupid, though. Right? Personally, this seems like 1) Fox jumping at their first chance to get even over Warner Bros. snatching Bryan Singer off X-Men: The Last Stand to work on Superman Returns and 2) Fox being jealous of Warner Bros.' success this summer, while none of their movies have managed to pull jack shit during the blockbuster season. WB has done $934 million in ticket sales with movies that have been released since May, while Fox has done $216 million on titles released during the same period.

Even if there is some moron at Fox hell-bent on getting even with a rival studio, dollar signs usually trump all, so I wouldn't expect an actual delay on the release.