How do such arrangements go, that a studio must make a movie within a particular time period to retain hold of the rights to do so? How does that work, exactly? I heard that a similar arrangement was in place for the makers of the X-Men movies.
Not entirely certain, but this is taken from Wikipedia:
"When producers option a script, they are purchasing the right to buy certain rights to intellectual property. A typical option fee is 10% of the cost of the rights, should the producers manage to secure full financing for their project and have it "greenlit". Because few projects actually manage to be greenlit, options allow producers to reduce their loss in case a project does not come to fruition. Should the project be greenlit, an option provides a legally-binding guarantee to purchase the film rights.
The contract for an option will specify the length of time it is valid for. If the producer cannot have their project greenlit in the specified window of time (e.g. two years), the option will expire. The rights holder can then put the previously-optioned rights up for sale again. Or, the contract may allow the producer to renew the option for a certain price."
My guess is that the rights to the Hellraiser series was about to run out, however, the film studio may have a stipulation in the contract that if a film was made by the end of 2011, they would get to keep said rights for the forseeable future. Even if the film becomes a straight-to-dvd film, it still falls within the category, since it was a produced film. Had the film not been made, the holders of the original copyright, I'm guessing Clive Barker and whomever else, could've then shopped the series around to other studios for a higher price.
