AceShowbiz -

The legal battle over "Watchmen" won't be resolving any time soon. Initially set to be brought in front of the court on January 6, 2009, the trial date for the rights to the action adventure movie has been moved back two weeks to January 20, 2009. Variety reported that the new date was set by Los Angeles federal judge Gary Allen Feess on Monday, December 15.

The new trial date has been thrown out after Feess refused to issue a ruling on which side, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. Pictures, has the control of the film's rights. Revealing that he has to handle a criminal matter on the original date, Feess reportedly also declined on making a pre-trial summary judgment, claiming that the contracts between Fox and "Watchmen" producer Larry Gordon are "so open to interpretation that a trial is required".

Despite the fact the the trial date has been moved even closer to the film's release date on March 6, 2009, Warner Bros. has not made any changes on the theatrical distribution of "Watchmen". Meanwhile, 22-minutes of the movie has been previewed during Butt-Numb-A-Thon and Chud has the full report.

"It will look and feel like a real movie," parts of the report read. "The footage is stylish - well shot, with rich visuals and dynamic compositions - but it looked more like a modern take on a noir film than anything else. What I saw was moody, sometimes muted. Snyder allows his takes to be long, eschewing a quick cut style that many seem to think would rule the day in this film. The 22 minutes I saw didn't feel like an action film at all."

Adapted from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' comic book series of the same title, "Watchmen" follows superhero-turned-vigilante Rorschach as he investigates the murder of his former colleague and discovers much more than a simple homicide case. Starred by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Malin Akerman and Patrick Wilson, the movie is directed by Zack Snyder using script written by David Hayter and Alex Tse.