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A new Watchmen poster is floating around featuring a rainy city street in which Rorschach is seen walking down. Trailer Addict also has a few more images up featuring the different covers re-imagined.
Watchmen Video Journal #4: Gibbons takes a peak behind the scenes of the Watchmen movie by talking with the artist of the fantastic graphic novel. Dave Gibbons teamed up with Alan Moore to create the original masterpiece and takes a trip to the movie set to talk about the sets and look of the movie with director Zack Snyder.
Watchmen Video Journal #3: Stunts takes a look behind the scenes of the Watchmen movie with the stunts of the movie. The Prison scene of the movie is highlighted as the crew sets a man on fire.
Brad Brevet from Rope of Silicon has landed a killer video and pictures of "Archie," the Nite Owl's ship from the upcoming "Watchmen" movie. Be sure to check out his entire gallery of the ship.
Many disappointed Watchmen fans were turned away from a full crowd as the Watchmen panel further explored the alternative world of the 1980's at the 2008 Comic Con in San Diego. Last year the crew unveiled a poster for the movie. This year they showed more detailed clips and talked about the mature aspect of the movie.
One notable point is that Zack Snyder claims the Watchmen is hovering around the 3 hour mark right now. He mentions that the Warner Bros. Studio wants that trimmed down to 2.5 hours by release date which already has die-hard fans mentioning a director's cut.
Snyder's doing a fantastic job of P.R. with the movie by keeping interest for the fans who are aiming for the moon. Many consider the original graphic novel of the Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons to be the Citizen Kane of their world. A movie version has been in the works for years and many will not tolerate anything less than the best movie possible.
Steven Spielberg edited out guns in his movie "E.T" to be more "P.C" with the times. Personally, I'm not a fan of that move but I guess that's Steven's choice. Zack Synder, the director of "Watchmen," was faced with a similar situation with the release of the first trailer for his movie. The MPAA thought it would be too risky to show a person aiming a gun at the audience and he had to replace said gun with a digital walkie-talkie.
*sigh* ...that's pretty sad. If you watch the trailer you'll never notice what the dude is holding. The scene lasts less than a second (about 12 frames) and goes by so fast you have to freeze frame it to even notice. It happens about 1:33 in the Watchmen trailer below.
"Still, the Motion Picture Association Of America doesn't want to take any chances, which is why they told the director of Watchmen, Zack Snyder, that he couldn't have a guy pointing a gun at the audience in the trailer.
Snyder replaced the gun with a walkie-talkie. This way, if anyone from 1903 watches the trailer, instead of ducking and/or running for their life, they'll just drop their bowler hat, curl up into a ball, rock back and forth, and mumble into their shirtwaist, "What world is this? What is happening to me? Where am I?" (source)
One of the more interesting points that came out of the recently released Watchmen Trailer is the music that accompanies the preview. What's that Smashing Pumpkins song in the trailer?
While there's no doubt that it was Billy Corgan and the Pumpkins doing the song in the Watchmen trailer, I couldn't help but think that I had heard this song in another movie but I just couldn't remember where.
After a quick research I discovered a shocking tidbit. The song was used for another movie about 10 years back and it turned out to be another comic book inspired flick. It also turns out it's from a pretty bad one. The song is from one of the worst films ever, "Batman and Robin."
Yes, the movie that tried to killed the Batman franchise and gave us the now famous 'nipples' on the Batsuit is lending a song from its soundtrack to the adaptation of one of the best graphic novels ever. How great is that!
Basically, "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" by Smashing Pumpkins is a remix of their song "The End is the Beginning is the End" which was made for the "Batman and Robin" Soundtrack. Here's a video below for each of the two songs and you'll noticed the slower version "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" is the one you'll hear in the "Watchmen" trailer. I only have found a fan-made video for this one so far that's set to some "Final Fantasy" clips. But it has the whole song to listen to.
"The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" by the Smashing Pumpkins
Now, here's "The End Is the Beginning Is the End" from the "Batman and Robin" Soundtrack.
The Smashing Pumpkins - The End Is the Beginning Is the End from Batman and Robin
MTV took notice, too. They asked Watchmen director Zack Snyder about why he used the Smashing Pumpkins in the trailer. They also dusted off their archives to bring out a story where "Batman and Robin" director Joel Schumacher and Billy Corgon of the "Smashing Pumpkins" talk shop about the song and video for the Batman movie.
"What compelled Zack Snyder, the, um … watchman … behind “Watchmen” to use the track? Was it because there’s that shot in the trailer of a guy (I’m sure he has a name, but seriously, people, the last graphic novel I read involved the name “Jughead”) falling from the sky that vaguely resembles something Batman might do? Is “Watchmen” sort of like watching “Batman & Robin” in slow-motion — much like how listening to “The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning” is somewhat of a stretched-out version of the original tune? Here’s what Snyder had to say:
“Smashing Pumpkins we picked for a couple reasons. For one, I felt like in mood, it was correct for what we were trying to do. We were trying to sort of get at the unwashed masses who don’t know anything about ‘Watchmen’ and find something provocative that makes you go, ‘What is that?’ … And then, also, I felt like the song itself spoke a little to the ‘Watchmen’ world. And then on the third hand … it will create controversy a little bit in the fanbase because they’re going to be like, ‘Wait, is that going to be in the movie? That ain’t 1985!’ ”
All good reasons, we suppose. But it doesn’t answer the bigger question: Did he have any idea that Corgan wrote the song expressly for that other nocturnal superhero?" (...more)
The Watchmen Trailer hit the web hard this weekend as fans of the acclaimed graphic novel were eager to get a glimpse of the movie adaptation. Director Zack Snyder has been good to the fans so far by allowing glimpses behind the scenes at sets and characters. He also wisely took into consideration that the first trailer would set the opinion for many die-hard "Watchmen" fans and he chose to stick as close to the original material as possible.
The Watchmen Trailer
MTV had a chance to sit down with Snyder to talk about the making of the movie of Alan Moore's classic and the release of the trailer to the public. Here are some samples of the interview (read the full interview here):
MTV: When we interviewed you for "300," you said the "Watchmen" moment you were most eager to film was Manhattan's deployment to Vietnam, when he becomes enormous and slaughters the enemy on behalf of the U.S. Now, we can finally see a bit of it!
Snyder: Yeah that's super fun, and it gets better and better. I've got to be honest: The version we're able to show in the trailer is cool, but it's the version that's been approved for all audiences. The R-rated version, when he blows those guys up, it's a little rougher.
MTV: That's how he kills people?
Snyder: In the movie, their guts explode — it's a little rougher.
MTV: And at the end of it all, we get an eye-popping shot of Dr. Manhattan's crib. What was it like to create this oasis on Mars?
Snyder: Well, what happens is that Manhattan exiles himself to Mars, and he builds that glass palace. Because his father was a clock-maker, he uses that big structure as a metaphor for the clock of the universe. In some ways, it's his own place of meditation. He's taken Laurie there at that point in the movie, and they're talking about how they're going to resolve their differences. That's how he does it: When he wants to talk to you, he takes you to Mars and he puts you in a giant glass.
MTV: What else is in the trailer that you're most proud of?
Snyder: You see a little bit of the Keane Act riots — that's the guy throwing the Molotov cocktail through the window. The Keane Act was an act of Congress that outlawed the vigilantes originally. ... That little image of that little bottle being thrown through the window, and also the shot of the Owl Ship floating there with Blake the Comedian standing in the window and all these people cheering, that's [the riots that ensue].
The time has come to rejoice and sing in the streets. The Watchmen Trailer is live and online. Until I can find an embedded link, you can Watch the Watchmen Trailer via their official website. That will link you to Apple where Steve Jobs and Zack Thomas will come out, holding hands, and toss iPhones in the air in joy. That will link you to another Apple link. So, I guess what I'm saying is that to bypass all that just click here to watch the Watchmen Trailer.
Edit: here's the embedded Watchmen Trailer. Enjoy!
Here are a few snips from the trailer to wet your appetite! Some of these scenes look like they were taken straight from the graphic novel. Beautiful...
Howdy! As you know, Dave and Thomas have a new home at Dave and Thomas.net (bookmark the new location) To help mark the move we're giving away some DVD's! This week's winner was Terry from Ohio.
Be sure to head over and catch this week's contest and see if you can win. Also, the fate of the remaining sites are being decided. All the movie sites (Watchmen, Cloverfield, Speed Racer,...) will be rolled into a new site in the next week. More to come...
Dave Gibbons started out as a comic strip illustrator for DC Thomson and IPC, but came to greater prominence as one of the premiere illustrators at 2000 AD comic in the late 1970s, contributing to strips such as Dan Dare, Rogue Trooper and Harlem Heroes.
His greatest fame was awaiting him in the mid-eighties, when his collaboration with Alan Moore on the Watchmen graphic novel was to lead to both cult and commercial acclaim, and the only Hugo award yet granted to a graphic novel. Gibbons' working methods and technique are examined along with those of Brian Bolland, Duncan Fegredo and others in the recently-released Studio Space book.
Remaining as busy as ever both as a comic illustrator and writer, Gibbons is looking forward – along with the rest of us - to the release of Zack Snyder’s Watchmen movie adaptation in March of 2009…
Welcome to the WATCHMEN "Veidt Enterprises Advertising Contest." Director Zack Snyder is offering you the opportunity to create "Veidt Enterprises" TV commercials that could end up in the feature film WATCHMEN, scheduled to be released in theaters on March 6, 2009. Remember, the movie is set in 1985, so TV commercials should be in full frame 4:3 aspect ratio (so it looks like standard TV, not widescreen) and they should be 15, 30 or 60 seconds in length. Visit the Watchmen YouTubeChannelfor more info.
My pals at Ain't It Cool News (AICN) have landed the first picture of the original Minutemen from the upcoming Watchmen movie.
What we have below is a photo that the Minutemen took - Who are the Minutemen? Well in WATCHMEN - it was the first TEAM of superheroes that formed in 1939 and pulled a BEATLES in 1949. In the pic below you'll see the classic SILK SPECTRE and NITE OWL... you'll see CAPTAIN METROPOLIS, MOTHMAN, SILHOUETTE, COMEDIAN, DOLLAR BILL and with the noose... HOODED JUSTICE.
DC Direct have just revealed their initial Watchmen line-up which includes the first wave of action figures (available on January 28th 2009) and a series of cold-cast porcelain busts (January 21st). The announced Dr. Manhattan figure will be revealed at the upcoming Comic Con in San Diego at the end of July.
News has Watchmen studio producers Warner Bros. looking to cash in on the popularity of the upcoming Watchmen movie by creating a special DVD tied into the movie to be released before the live-action flick hits the big screen.
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 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.