One of the big questions regarding Zach Snyder’s Watchmen movie, was how he was going to deal with the Black Freighter side story. If I remember correctly, there was going to be a special feature on the DVD release that would include the story, but word from the New York Times has Tales of the Black Freighter getting its own direct to DVD movie release.
The immediate goal is for the parallel release to help start a potential new movie franchise. As television advertising becomes less effective because of declining TV viewership, movie studios need to reach a mass audience somehow, and having what amounts to ads sitting on store shelves is seen as a crucial antidote.
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.
Also attached to the DVD is a special feature called Under the Hood that examines the characters’ backstories. For those who aren’t familiar with the Watchmen universe, Warner Bros. will also release a dozen 20-30 minute webisodes called The Watchmen Motion Comic.
That sounds like a lot of content to digest before the release of the movie, but should make DVD sales rise prior to the release of the movie.
Are you going to by the Tales of the Black Freighter DVD when it is released? I’m going to hold off because Snyder indicated in the article that everything might be combined into a Watchmen mega movie release.
3 Comments
I will be picking up everything that is Watchmen come 2009, Tales of the Black Freighter included. I’ll avoid the usual hyperbole associated with fanboy passion of the source material, but you have to admire Snyder’s commitment to the property. He knew there were certain things that he had to do to make the movie sync with the graphic novel.
There are many detractors out there (Alan Moore among them) but I’m absolutely stoked for this one. I might skip the initial Watchmen DVD release knowing that Ultimate Edition that will be inevitable. I hate double-dipping, but have been known to do it for worthwhile films.
I’ve never been as crazy about the Black Freighter stuff in Watchmen as some. I get the point of it and it’s cool, but I always thought it dragged when reading. If it was compressed into a combined movie, that might be cool, but I don’t think I’d ever want to watch *just* the Black Freighter tale. To me, that seems a bit boring. Those who really dig it, I guess it’s cool to have it.
I’m much more interested in TDK animated direct-to-dvd.
yeah, the black freighter stuff was way boring. I got why it was there, but I always felt that it didn’t NEED to be there.