Locke & Key Movie Caught In Legal Maze

Joe Hill has been talking to MTV about the legal wranglings involved in getting the proposed Locke & Key movie off the ground.

Fox had initially wanted to make a series of the popular comic, but eventually refused to pick up the pilot, resulting in a legal quagmire for any future adaptation.

Says Hill:

"It's been snared in an endless series of contractual negotiations. Universal took a long, long time to come through with an acceptable contract for myself and IDW.

"Now they're dealing with a bureaucracy as labyrinthine and implacable as their own: FOX TV. Uni wants to avoid spending 25 million dollars on a movie, and then have FOX steal their thunder by releasing a three-year-old pilot.

"Fox wants to see some coin on all the money they sank into the pilot in the first place. The lawyers all have to validate their salaries.

"That said, Alex [Kurtzman] and [Roberto Orci] are the two most tenacious people I've ever met, and if anyone can see Locke & Key through the contractual maze, and on into production, it's them."

Hill then concluded by joking about Fox's decision not to go ahead with the TV show: "Of course all this could've been avoided if Fox had just made the series. I know I'm biased, but I kinda think they bet on the wrong ponies that season."