LOCKE & KEY Movie Gives A Peek At Movie Studio Contract Negotiations

Talented writer Joe Hill spoke with MTV about the new Tales From The Darkside reboot series on the way at The CW. But Hill also touched on the interesting legal machinations taking place behind the scenes to bring his hit IDW comic book series, Locke & Key to a movie screen near you. "It's been snared in an endless series of contractual negotiations," began Hill. He continued, "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."

What Hill is referring to is the fact that back in 2011, Fox made a pilot for a Locke & Key tv series but ultimately decided not to bring it to series. The pilot was eventually shown at SDCC and left many fans wondering why Fox had decided to pass. There's always the chance that Fox could still Universal's thunder as Hill says by deciding to jumpstart the series again.

Explaining further, Hill added, "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 and Bob 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. 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."

Alex and Bob are of course Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, two screenwriters that need no introduction around these parts. And just in case you were wondering, MTV points out that in 2011, Fox passed on Locke & Key for Terra Nova, Alcatraz and The Finder, three shows that were cancelled after a single season.

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Locke & Key is a comic book series written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez and published by IDW Publishing. After the murder of their father, Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode Locke relocate with their mother to the family estate of Keyhouse, located in Lovecraft, Massachusetts. Sam Lesser, one of the teens who murdered Mr. Locke, is in a juvenile detention center and, by gazing in water, communicates with a supernatural force that promises to free him. Bode Locke, the youngest of the family, uncovers The Ghost Door, which separates his spirit from his body. Bode continues to experiment with The Ghost Door and, in his incorporeal form, spies on his brother, sister, and mother. During his journeys, Bode discovers a well that houses a creature who appears as a girl, the supernatural force previously communicating with Sam Lesser.