Director Zack Snyder is getting all the time he needs with three chances to tell the entire expansive Watchmen saga on DVD. As we'd reported, there will be an animated Tales of the Black Freighter feature, followed by the release of the actual Watchmen DVD. And then a third mystery project will be released that connects everything. We're looking at maybe nine hours of Watchmen goodness, including extra movie footage.

And if your Watchmen saturation level still hasn't been reached, the studio plans to release an additional 12 webisodes each about 22 to 26 minutes in length titled, The Watchmen Motion Comic. The web shorts will be a slide show of comic panels with a narrator. Snyder is also overseeing this project, which he should have an eye for after his meticulous comic-panel set design that's been showcased in recent set photos.

Warner Bros. is trying to prop up softening DVD sales with a new strategy to promote its upcoming superhero feature film Watchmen. The studio will release a separate a side movie based on the original film on DVD only, prior to the main Watchmen hitting theaters.

The New York Times writes that DVD sales fell for the first time last year — a drop that has retailers and studios nervous as DVDs can drive as much as 70 percent of the revenue for a new film. Warner Bros.’ plan would generate three separate DVD release opportunities for Watchmen (the side movie, the original film and a bundling of the two), pushing retail sales and promoting a (hopefully) new franchise for the studio.

For those of you who actually went on dates in high school, Watchmen is a gritty, superhero comic book graphic novel. A side story within the comic was a historical drama called “Tales of the Black Freighter.” Warner’s will create an animated movie of “Black Freighter,” and release it along with a documentary-style movie on DVD five days before Watchmen hits theaters.

There are a couple problems with this plan. First, it props up a dying technology and a physical product instead of moving us further to digital downloads — no more shiny discs! I understand Warner Bros. is making good with retailers after the studio said it would release all films this year on VOD day-and-date with DVD, thereby potentially impacting DVD sales, but three separate releases is just bilking fans.

Second, no offense to Watchmen, which was a ground-breaking, brilliant story, but “The Black Freighter” part of the book was bo-ring (fanboys, feel fee to flame me in the comments). It’s not indicative of the main movie and could turn noobs off.

One thing Warner Bros. is doing that’s smart is a series of Watchmen webisodes in advance of the movie that are basically slideshows of panels from the original comic with narration. There are no DVDs to buy and it’s an entertaining way to understand the source material.

The effort is also a way for Warner to get more DVD bang for not many more bucks. The “Watchmen” film, Mr. Synder said, will probably generate at least three DVDs: “Tales of the Black Freighter,” followed about four months later by release of “Watchmen” itself, and then an “ultimate” edition in which the two are edited together into one megamovie.

“The überfans of this property are going to go crazy for that,” Mr. Snyder said.

The co-creator of Watchmen talks about the upcoming movie adaptation and looks back on his career..

I'd happily sit through a well-done 4 hour version of the GN!

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I'd happily sit through a well-done 4 hour version of the GN!

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Well I'm off to reread the Graphic Novel.

I would be, too... except mine is in a storage bin on the other coast.

Which version have you got, mine is just a straight reprinting of the series, with no intro's outro's, gallerys showing character development etc. Then again the story is so good it doesn't need 'em.

In the Strange but True department

I went to the movie website and it didn't mention Alan Moore once you would think that the writer would get a mention, unless he threatened to sue the ass off them if his name was on the site.

Wonder if he's tired of bein' confused with RDM?

The trailer is EXCELLENT!

You should see the trailer in IMAX, it will blow you away. The hair on my arms raised up at a couple of spots, very visceral & compelling imagery. Of course, Zack Snyder did a fantastic job of adapting "300" faithfully & well, so I had great hopes for this project as well. Even my stepfather, who would never be described as a big scifi fan, said he thought it looked amazing & wanted to see it.

I cheaped out & didn't go see 300 in IMAX and have regretted it ever since. I won't make that mistake again!

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Dear Fox,
Eat all the dicks.

Love,
-DOB

PS
(Okay, let me clarify a little bit for anyone who might be reading this letter that isn’t either a)obsessed with The Watchmen or B) the head of the Fox Corporation. ) Back in the 80s, Fox purchased the rights to a Watchmen movie and celebrated by not making it for 20 years. Now, Warner Brothers respected their decision but, oddly enough, felt that a Watchmen movie would look better if it was actually, you know, made. So, Warner Brothers decided to make it. They announced their plans well over a year ago and Watchmen is now one of the most anticipated movies of the year. If you saw The Dark Knight and, statistically speaking, you probably did, then you already saw the trailer.

If you’re me and, statistically speaking, you’re probably not, then you went back to your apartment and watched the trailer on Youtube over and over again and experienced an odd yet not totally unexpected sense of profound sexual arousal that you could really only describe as spiritual.

If you’re Fox, you patiently waited until the excitement over the movie reached a boner-inducing fever pitch, and then you decided to sue Warner Brothers and, according to the New York Times, you won. On Christmas Eve, a judge ruled that Fox has the right to, at the very least, distribute The Watchmen. Will they try to stop the release of the movie? Probably not, (though they certainly could). Will they try to change it? Again, no. Will they make some fat cash off of it? Certainly. Should they eat all the dicks? Without a doubt.

Now, Fox, I know that you didn’t technically do anything illegal. In terms of the way the American justice system works, you are completely within your rights to do exactly what you did. You owned the movie rights to The Watchmen, and Warner Brothers made the movie anyway. Without having a real firm grasp on the law, I can certainly understand the concept of someone taking somebody else’s thing. Like, if I bought bacon with the intention of cooking it, chopping it up and throwing it into one of my famous omelettes, I’d be real pissed if some jerk showed up, took all my bacon and made their own breakfast with it. Even if that jerk was Warner Brothers, and even if their breakfast looked fucking awesome.

But here’s the thing: You weren’t going to make that movie. You had the movie rights to the most important graphic novel of all time, and you just sat on it for a couple of decades while you focused on making other hit movies, (though I can’t for some reason think of a single one). The difference is that, when I buy bacon, I cook it almost immediately. I never just sit on it. (That’s the worst thing you can do with bacon.) And if you did want to make it, you should’ve spoken up when the movie was first announced. “Hey, Warner Brothers, don’t make that movie. We own it, and we will make it, we’re just very slow.” That would’ve been fine. But you decided to wait. You waited for Warner Brothers to buy some cheese, fry up some eggs, toast some English muffins cook its bacon, (I’m assuming here that Warner Brothers is making a bacon egg and cheese sandwich), and just when Warner Brothers was about to take a bite, you jumped out of the shadows and said “Hey, that’s mine!” Which is why I’ve popped out, from even darker shadows, shouting “Hey, eat all the dicks!”

You know what bothers me the most, you stupid, shitty bastards? You don’t want to crush this movie or stop its release. It’s not like you’re morally opposed to the subject matter, and it’s not like you’re artistically offended by the vision and interpretation of the source material by Warner Brothers or director Zack Snyder and as a result want to stop the movie from seeing the light of day. It’s not like there are a bunch of Fox employees who worked diligently on this movie; they’re not being screwed by Warner Brothers’ production. And it isn’t like you’re lashing out because you were going to make the movie and Snyder beat you to it; you had over twenty years and did nothing.

This is about money. You saw the chance to make a ridiculous sum of money, for no reason, and you’re going to take it.

This is Rupert Murdoch. He owns Fox and has more money
than you’ll ever have. Also, look at his weird face.

And, when the law is on your side, it’s easy for you to argue that I don’t have a leg to stand on and, at the end of the day, you’re right. You’re a business, and you made what is perhaps the smartest move a business could make. You struck at the last second, thereby forcing Warner Brothers’ hand. They’ll have to settle with you, and they’ll have to pay whatever exorbitant sums you want, or else they can just refuse to distribute the film, which, given the anticipation, will screw Warner Brothers pretty hard.

But I don’t give a shit about the law right now, (or, hey, while we’re at it, ever). When it comes down to it, Zack Snyder worked hard on this movie. All of the actors and all of the crew members worked hard on it. The producers took a risk by giving Snyder complete creative control and a buttload of money. This is a movie that fans have been praying and begging for for decades. We want this movie and, more importantly, we want it done right. We want it to be visually stunning. We want to see the book’s complex themes brought to life. We want to see Dr. Manhattan’s glorious, blue genitals majestically flopping on the big screen.

Flop flop flop flop flop.

A lot of people worked hard to make this movie what the fans want it to be and, based on the trailer, the behind the scenes video clips, most of the early reviews, this is as close as anyone will come.

You, Fox, did not do any of the work to get this movie to where it is, but you’re still going to make money off of it. And that’s a concept that I don’t quite understand, and I never will understand it. I can’t imagine that Warner Brothers has money tucked away specifically to pay to you, Fox, so I have to assume that whatever money goes to you was originally intended for someone else, someone who probably actually deserves it. You haven’t been able to make a decent hit blockbuster, so you’re pulling this crap. And that, Fox, you shameless, opportunistic, greedy, jealous, petty shit-parade, brings me back to my original thesis:

Eat all the dicks. Open your bitter, miserable mouth and eat all the dicks. Stop using that mouth of yours to whine, and get started on all these dicks you need to be eating. Keep eating dicks, even at night, even on weekends. Intuition will tell you that you’ve had enough dicks, but you will be wrong: You will never have eaten enough dicks. You may complain that what you’re doing is perfectly legal, but I’d argue that I’ve never read a law that specifically prohibits force-feeding a lethal amount of dicks down someone’s throat, (though, I’ll admit, I’m almost positive there is one). You may say “I don’t care what you think, DOB,” to which I’d respond, “That’s some tough talk for someone with an acre of dicks in their mouth.”

And even when you meekly protest that they don’t measure dicks in acres, I won’t be able to hear you.

Because of all the dicks.

According to reports, both sides have asked federal judge Gary Feess today to delay an upcoming hearing in the case because “settlement talks have been productive.”

Studios settle wrangle over 'Watchmen' blockbuster

Fri Jan 16, 2:53 pm ET
Studios settle wrangle over 'Watchmen' blockbuster 20th Century Fox – 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. studios have settled their legal wrangle that threatened upcoming superhero …

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Two rival movie studios have settled their legal wrangle that threatened upcoming superhero blockbuster "Watchmen" and the film is to be released in March as scheduled, a statement said Friday.

Attorneys for 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. told Judge Gary Feess that their wrangle over ownership of the film had been settled and a lawsuit had been dropped, avoiding the prospect of a trial.

The terms of the settlement have not been released and will remain confidential, studio officials said in a joint statement.

"Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox have resolved their dispute regarding the rights to the upcoming motion picture 'Watchmen' in a confidential settlement," the statement said.

"Warner Bros. acknowledges that Fox acted in good faith in bringing its claims, which were asserted prior to the start of principal photography," the statement said. "Fox acknowledges that Warner Bros. acted in good faith in defending against those claims."

Fox sued Warner Bros. over its adaptation of Alan Moore's 12-part graphic novel after arguing it had copyright and distribution rights to the film.

The studio said it retained rights to the movie because Warner had failed to exercise an option to acquire a remaining interest in the Fox-owned novel.

Warner Bros. meanwhile denied that Fox, which allegedly bought the rights to "Watchmen" in the 1980s and spent more than one million dollars in developing the novel as a film, held copyright.

However in a ruling last month widely seen as a defeat for Warner Bros., Los Angeles federal judge Gary Feess indicated he intended to grant Fox's claim that it had either a copyright interest or distribution rights to the film.

The film, directed by "300" film-maker Zack Snyder, charts the fortunes of a group of superheroes struggling for justice in an alternative 1985, where Richard Nixon is still US president and the Cold War is raging.

The novel was once regarded as impossible to turn into a mainstream film, but the success of other dark-themed superhero movies and advances in technology have made the movie adaptation a hot property.

The film is to be released in North America on March 6.

Well, it's been settled:



Now bring it on!
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