The latest version of the claim comes from the attorney representing former Fox News columnist Roger Friedman, who's apparently planning to file a wrongful termination lawsuit against Fox for his dismissal after writing a column admitting downloading the leaked movie earlier this year. The lawyer, Martin Garbus, is not only bizarrely claiming that scientologists are actually behind Friedman's firing, but that Murdoch was accidentally responsible for the leak, according to a report in the NY Daily News:

According to Garbus, the leak of "Wolverine" onto the Web traced back to Murdoch asking the studio to make him a DVD copy of the unfinished movie. "Apparently, someone made another copy for themselves," says Garbus.

There is, however, another version of the rumor going around, according to Nikki Finke:

This is different from the rumor as I heard it: that Murdoch was anxious to bring the film on board his yacht and asked 20th Century Fox to make a copy for him. But then Murdoch had outside people do it, and that's how the film leaked onto the web.

Either way, Murdoch is allegedly quasi-responsible for taking the unfinished work print outside of its secure, post-production environment. If true, we can't wait to hear how Fox spins this... or whether the investigation into the leak suddenly, and quietly, just goes away.

Fox's axed man blames Scientologists [NY Daily News], Claims: Murdoch Caused 'Wolverine' Piracy? [Deadline Hollywood Daily]

Used Guys was originally on track for a 2007 release, but 20th Century Fox scrapped the film in May 2006, largely because the film's budget had spiraled out of control, topping $100 million in combined actors' salaries, effects shots, and the cost of the futuristic sets. (This is the same Fox that felt Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li and Dragonball Evolution were good uses of its money, but I digress.)

The film's premise centered on Carrey and Stiller's characters, two past-their-prime pleasure clones in a world controlled by women, who seek out the masculine paradise known only as Mantopia. Jay Roach, director of the Austin Powers and Meet the Parents movies, had originally signed on to direct.

In its new incarnation, Used Guys will be more of a romantic comedy that focuses on Stiller, who is currently in talks to rejoin the project. Reese Witherspoon has reportedly been asked to play Stiller's love interest. Little Miss Sunshine directors Valentine Faris and Jonathan Dayton are the leading candidates to direct the movie.

I've got to admit, I'm a little dubious about either version of this film. If a movie is going to feature something called "Mantopia" and still be even halfway decent, I'd have to think you need more of a satirical edge than what you'd expect from the guys behind Meet the Fockers. As for the romantic comedy version that might actually happen, I can't get away from the fact that the only recent Ben Stiller movies that have been remotely watchable (be they Tropic Thunder or...do I seriously have to reach back to Dodgeball for another watchable Ben Stiller movie?) have been decidedly non-romantic in nature. And, as always, we're talking about Fox here, who aren't known as the greatest arbiters of quality.

Still, hope springs eternal, and there's something so wonderfully, horribly appropriate about a movie industry dominated by sequels and remakes having a second try at making a movie about clones. With a formula like that, Used Guys will probably make a hundred billion dollars.

[Sci Fi Wire]

We admit it; The Big Bang Theory - a show many of you have told us to cover more often, we have to admit - won our affection this week not because of their DC Comics references (although the Battle For The Cowl Batman geekout did make DC Comics editor Janelle Siegel very happy), but because show creator Chuck Lorre said no to the CBS "suggestion" that they incorporate references to the upcoming movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine in an episode, according to Variety:

Insiders said CBS had originally sealed an integration deal with the 20th Century Fox film studio to include "Wolverine" in an episode of "The Big Bang Theory."

"Big Bang," after all, revolves around the exact kind of characters who would be first in line to see an "X-Men" movie. But according to one source, "Big Bang" exec producer Chuck Lorre passed on incorporating "Wolverine" into the show.

But before we get too happy about Lorre's apparent standing up for artistic integrity, please remember that Theory is produced by Warner Bros., who owns Wolverine owner Marvel Comics' biggest rival, DC... thereby explaining a comic store where almost every product apparently belonged to DC. Still, at least they managed to sneak in a little bitchiness about DC's alleged insularness. And 20th Century Fox wasn't too upset about the refusal; they just pushed the Wolverine references into the show following Theory, How I Met Your Mother... which happens to be made by their sister company, 20th Century Fox Television.

Now all we need to do is work out why every comic store in Heroes only seems to sell old Marvel Comics from the '90s (I sense a Jeph Loeb connection, considering the show's former producer also happens to write for the publisher)...

'Mother' tends to Fox sibling [Variety]

Firstly, if you don't have a clue what's going on despite reading all about the case, Harris wants you to know that that's okay:

It doesn’t help that this case involves both copyright–one of the most complicated areas of law, because it’s about property that doesn’t physically exist–and Hollywood contracts, which were invented by jacket-strapped lunatics clenching nubs of graphite between their teeth as they scrawled out Cthulhu-summoning rituals on the padded walls of their asylum cells. Think the Watchmen graphic novel was complex? That Rorschach was crazy? That Ozymandias’s plan represents the labyrinthine scheme of a delusional megalomaniac? Ha ha ha. You’ve never read a Hollywood contract. Watchmen is a Johnny DC pop-up book compared to a Hollywood contract.

Where we should all be focusing our attentions now is the most recent ruling to deny Warners' motion to dismiss, apparently:

[W]hat does happen occasionally, however, is that the court will rule on something that actually affects the posture of the case down the line. For example: if the authenticity of a document is in dispute, the judge might rule that, pretending the document has been proven 100% authentic (as the rules of the motion require him to do), it would be overwhelming evidence that one side is right (or wrong). Then the lawyers know that the real target of the trial will be proving whether that document is authentic or not. There’s something similar (different in specifics, but along the same theme) that happened here. The court ruled in a way that at least on the surface appears to give added staying power to the veracity of Fox’s claims. Again, the details are boring, but the decision helps provide a trail map for the Blair Witch journey that the rights to the film have taken–and for Fox, that’s a very good thing. Said another way: the ruling itself (rejecting the motion) isn’t all that notable; but the content of the ruling looks like it gives Fox a helluva lot to work with.

A lot of work with towards what end, though...? Stopping release of the movie, or something else? Harris plumps for the latter:

[F]ans should be encouraged that nothing about this litigation will realistically keep the movie out of theaters next year. At the end of the day, Fox wants money; it doesn’t want an unreleased and unreleasable film canister. And, yes–while it’s true that Fox has also filed for an injunction to shut down the film’s release, that too should give the fans no alarm. It is, like Fox’s other maneuvers, just a negotiating tactic; a successful injunction simply represents the fastest way since God invented light of getting a settlement offer on the table.

Ultimately, then, there's nothing for anyone who isn't a Warners employee (or entertainment lawyer) to worry about - Come May next year, everyone can watch the Watchmen as planned... unless a giant alien appears in the middle of Manhattan in the meantime or something.

The world will look up and say “sue us.” And I’ll look down and whisper, “okay.” [Andrew Steven Harris]

According to trade paper Production Weekly, 20th Century Fox is working on a movie called X-Men: First Class, and has registered the domain x-menfirstclass.com (which currently redirects back to Fox's own site). X-Men: First Class is currently the name of a flashback series of comics based on the original X-Men team, all of whom made it into the movie series in various guises (Cyclops and Jean Grey as part of the team from the start, with the Beast, Iceman and the Angel showing up in later episodes). Does this mean that Fox plans on rolling back the years to give us the movie version of the awkward school years of our favorite mutants? And, more importantly, does that mean that we finally know the "prequel of sorts" X-Men project that Gossip Girl's Josh Schwartz was talking about back in May?

Fox opening registration for First Class? [Superhero Hype]