WATCHMEN MOVIE: Fox watches the Watchmen.

This whole thing with Twentieth Century Fox getting the green light to go ahead with their law suit against Warner Bros. over movie rights to the DC comics Watchmen franchise is areal mess.

The actual suit was filed back in February when it was not seen as such abig deal, but with a Los Angeles judge now ruling that there are enough grounds for Fox to at least proceed with the suit, well now people are starting to take notice. Fox claims that its rights to the movie rights in the 1980s are still intact because they made some later claim to said rights in 1991 (I dont really understand that stuff either).

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Watchmen is now in the can and in final editing for its March 2009 release. Throw in the fact that the hype machine is already in gear, with heavy promotion for the film being carried out at the recent San Diego Comic con this past July and you have the makings of one very ugly PR war heading into the holiday season. I don't think that these two studios will be exchanging Christmas cards this year.

I am curious to see if this is just going to turn into a quick and easy cash grab by Fox or if they will be sticking to their guns and trying to really block the release of the movie, and I am curious if Warners will find some loophole that lets them go ahead and release the film even if they lose the lawsuit.

Ahh, comic book movie soap operas, a rare bird indeed...

WATCHMEN MOVIE: Movie posters, collectibles and more!

With the San Diego Comic Convention in July of this year, we have been exposed to a plethora (oooh, a fancy word) of new Watchmen movie related goodies; the convention was a perfect excuse to reveal images of upcoming Watchmen movie related toys, movie replicas,
posters and other movie collectibles. And with the magic of the internet I am able to pass these gems on to you, the curious throngs.

This time I am going to cover the movie posters and action figure collectible images from the con.

Here are all seven of the Watchmen movie posters; I think you will agree that the images are quite effective in finding a medium or bridge between the classic Dave Gibbons art from the original Watchmen comic series, and the imagery or look of the characters from the upcoming 2009 movie.











In addition, here is an image of the 1940's Minutemen super hero team as represented in the Watchmen movie coming out March 6th, 2009.


This image shows the following actors depicting the various characters: APOLLONIA VANOVA as Silhouette, NIALL MATER as Mothman, DAN PAYNE as Dollar Bill, CLINT CARLETON as the original Nite Owl, DARYL SCHEELER as Captain Metropolis, CARLA GUGINO as the original Silk Spectre, GLENN ENNIS as Hooded Justice and (kneeling) JEFFREY DEAN MORGAN as The Comedian.

(all images are copyright and property of Warner Bros. 2009)


Now for the movie toy images from the convention. These look very nice - or at least these early pictures of the collectibles look very nice.







(all toy images courtesy of firstshowing . net - thanks guys!)

New Watchmen trailer makes its debut

I just saw the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, and of course that means that I also sat through a number of trailers for upcoming releases, most of which are expected by their respective studios to be a big deal when they eventually are released. One of the more impressive trailers was the new one for the upcoming Watchmen movie. The trailer has reinforced my suspicions that the film's director has opted to make a more audience friendly film here, as opposed to trying to immerse the uninitiated viewer with too much of the Alan Moore Watchmen experience. In other words, he has chosen to make a movie that does not require a previous familiarity with the source material.

Of course now you can judge for yourself by watching this intriguing trailer:

WATCHMEN MOVIE: an anniversary (of sorts).

On the anniversary of the Watchmen movie's big 'unveiling at the 2007 San Diego Comic Con, I thought it might be fun to take a look back at how the project was being reported at the time , so without any further ado I present you with a look back to one year earlier in time. Enjoy.

An appearance was made at this Summer's San Diego Comic Con by Zack Snyder, director of the upcoming Watchmen movie. He was there to help promote the upcoming big screen adaptation of Alan Moore's famous graphic novel. From what I have read, Snyder is one of those guys who likes to talk publicly in sound bites; he is known to spit out in almost machine gun like rapid fire bursts, tidbits of information almost as if he cannot keep up with all of the thoughts on a subject that his brain is bringing forth. I know that for a few bloggers and reporters reporting on the scene he is a challenging person to keep up with.

Snyder, who is known for such films as his Dawn of the Dead remake and 300, has promised to deliver an R-rated super hero movie and has also said that he will be sticking to the source material as much as is practical for the screen. He was adamant that his film will be made for the Watchman fan and that he refuses to make it more accessable for the mainstream moviegoing crowd.

Snyder also revealed the early (teaser) movie poster which includes the film's release date ( March 6th, 2009 ). You can see it below.





Snyder also commented on the idea that Watchmen could be for mainstream movie audiences what the Watchmen comic series and later graphic novel ( Watchmen was originally released as a twelve issue comic maxi-series and then later collected into graphic novel format) was for mainstream comic readers at the time of its original release: something that will satisfy the cravings for something more involved. Inthe case of the movie, it would be something to satisfy the cravings of the movie fan that is ready for a more serious, adult approach to super heroes in film.

Regarding the filming locations for the movie, Snyder made the following comment: "We have a lot of sets we’re building in Vancouver. We’re building a New York City backlot. It’s pretty practical except for the sets for Antarctica and Mars."

About the production design, he said: "Our plan is to make the movie a little more realistic. The sets do have a style, but it’s not like Sin City. It’s a lot more like Se7en."

And as for the relatively unknown cast: "The cast in my opinion is basically perfect in the sense that we actually have real actors in this movie and it’s not an exercise in marketing. I don’t know if this means anything, but I made a movie called 300 which didn’t have any stars and a couple people saw it.”

THE WATCHMEN MOVIE: A Glimpse of Things to Come.

The Watchmen movie is an adaption of the landmark Alan Moore comic series from the mid-eighties. Directed by Zack Snyder, it is scheduled for a March 6th, 2009 release date.