In the wake of Warner Bros. moving forward with its film adaptation of Leonardo da Vinci’s young life, Universal is now producing its own biopic of the Renaissance artist and mathematician, Variety is reporting. The Universal spec, titled ‘Leonardo,’ which was written by Jonny Kurzman, will focus on da Vinci’s quest to stop Renaissance Europe from returning to the Dark Ages. ‘Watchmen’ and ‘Hellboy’ producer Larry Gordon will produce the action-adventure ‘Leonardo,’ which will reportedly also show some of da Vinci’s mechanical creations in use. Lawrence Gordon Prods. Vice President Philip Westgren secured ‘Leonardo’ for Universal, and will oversee the project for the producers. ‘Leonardo’ is just the latest adaptation…

A federal judge said Monday that he was unable to decide whether 20th Century Fox controls rights to “Watchmen”, which is set to be released by Warner Bros. on March 9th, 2009, leaving open the possibility that the dispute between the studios could be tried on Jan. 20th, 2009. The Los Angeles Times is reporting that US District Court Judge Gary Feess has told lawyers for both Fox and Warner Bros. that a series of contracts from a decade ago between Fox and “Watchmen” producer Larry Gordon are too open to interpretation thanks to their language, and thus he cannot give a pre-trial judgment for either party, as both sides…