By You’d think there would be more Dick Tracy being marketed to the masses these days, with comicbook projects now dominating the Hollywood box office. The reason for the character’s absence: Producer/Director/Star Warren Beatty hasn’t done anything with it. He owns the media rights and properly so according to U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson on Friday. Accusations that Beatty ignored the “Use It or Lose It” clause (established in 2008) have been rejected in court.
At least now there are options. This case was dragged out for so long that I forgot reading about it in the first place. Now that it’s over, Beatty can do whatever he cares to with the property, which is to say probably nothing but maybe, just maybe, a Blu-ray release of the 1990 action flick that was far ahead of its time.
Great news, considering that a two and a half hour director’s cut has been collecting dust. Retro is in, if you hadn’t heard, with videogames Fallout: New Vegas and L.A. Noire reviving that dime store novel kitsch.