Monday Morning Quarterback Part III

By BOP Staff

March 11, 2009

You're thinking of that Saturday morning cartoon Watchmen viral video, aren't you?

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And I'll whisper, "No."

Kim Hollis: What are your final thoughts on the Watchmen experiment?

Brandon Scott: As a non-fan of the title coming in, and due to the fact that I have yet to see it, I can't entirely answer this. I will say that the box office numbers are lower than I anticipated, and the reviews are slightly better than I anticipated. Apparently Snyder stayed very faithful to the graphic novel (almost every review I have read has stated that with clarity), and this may have hurt how it plays on screen. It's the whole "filming of the unfilmable" sort of ideology. I respect Snyder for taking the risk but I have to think Warner's expected more of this title. Throw in the word that they plan on putting out an extended cut of the film in theaters in June, you almost wonder if that will happen with this box office result now. Then again, there may be an ever so slight box office hit to those in the know, with some waiting to see it in it's desired entirety down the road. But again, only a "pequeno" hit to the total if anything at all.




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Max Braden: I was initially baffled that it took this long for the project to get off the ground. I'm all for artistic integrity but it annoys me that Watchmen had to clear so many legal hurdles to come to the screen. On the other hand, had it been greenlighted earlier, we may have instead been given a campy puff piece directed by Joel Schumacher. I think the tone of the X-Men, Spider-man, and Batman series in the last decade helped shape and support the more series themes in Watchmen. As far as box office goes I think they have to be pleased at this result for a project like this in March.

Pete Kilmer: While I will always wonder what a Terry Gilliam directed Watchmen with Jude Law as Ozymandis would have been like, I can't really complain with Zack Snyder's effort. With this film, for the important people who pay attention, he's just made his bones for "serious" movie project considerations. He's leaped beyond McG and Brett Ratner as a filmmaker and is really elbowing his way up into Big Name Director level. He's not there yet, but if he continues the way he has with Dawn of the Dead, 300 and now Watchmen, well, look out. He knows the material he works from. He knows the audience who he is aiming for and most important he knows how to make a film that works.

As for looking at the Watchmen property itself and thinking about other classic graphic novels to be made into movies? Well, the only other two that were on this level are Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: The Killing Joke. And I don't see those two getting made anytime in the next ten years since we had The Dark Knight. Sure, Sam Mendes is looking at doing an adaption of Preacher, and Shia LaBeouf may or may not star in Y The Last Man, but none of those have the impact that Watchmen had once it became a trade paperback.


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