Dukes Ponies up the Dough

Warner Bros Pictures has their work cut out for them. Last week an
injunction was placed on the Dukes of Hazard intellectual property that
stated all advertising and promotional activities related to the
upcoming film was to be ceased and that the film could not be released
relating to copyright infringement.

The characters for the TV series were created by a lesser known film by United Artists in 1974 called Moonrunners.
Though the brothers Warner had retained the rights to the television
series and it’s characters, the same privelages were not granted as
they applied to the original film, putting 2005’s General Lee up on
blocks.

WB did what they had to do and agreed to pay the Georgia based producer
upwards of $17.5 million, over a third of the cost of the new film.
Reportedly, $40 million had already gone into marketing campaigns
including web sites and television spots. Now that the injunction has
been lifted, the 2005 Dukes is still to hit theatres on August 5th.

The Dukes of Hazard stars Sean William Scott, Johnny Knoxville, Jessica Simpson and Burt Reynolds.