Personally I have a lot of doubt in Watchmen‘s abilities to score big at the box-office. I believe it will open big thanks to fanboy support, but a rumored running-time of 162 minutes I don’t think it will be able to do the repeat business 300 enjoyed and while the length closely mirrors that of this year’s success The Dark Knight the comparison between the two ends there. Sure, The Dark Knight had some political tidbits and wasn’t all about the action and spectacle, but you could watch it and be oblivious to any underlying political points and enjoy it almost just as much. With Watchmen, if you aren’t paying attention you won’t be satisfied with just the few moments of action, there isn’t enough to sustain you. Are general audiences prepared for such a film?
Early test screenings of the film have been wildly popular and outside of some ending controversy, word is the film is extremely faithful to the source material. This is good news for fans, but I am not sure how it will sit with audiences.
It’s weird to sit and write this knowing the film is less than four months away considering it has had such a long and treacherous trek to the big screen and still faces speed bumps thanks to a current lawsuit presented to Warner Bros. over rights, with which 20th Century Fox hopes to get a preliminary injunction against Warners to stop the release of the film. The trial date is set for January 6. I remain optimistic on that front, but I have to because if this movie were to get delayed it would not be a happy day.
To bring it all home, on the question of whether or not Watchmen will become the next 300. I seriously have my doubts. While David hopes it doesn’t become the next 300 from a filmmaking perspective (it won’t), I don’t think it will be a comparative box-office success. It fills such a small niche and the fact it is far more than just an action flick I think will turn off a lot of moviegoers. The trailers are obscure and a lot of people still don’t know what the hell you are talking about when you bring up the graphic novel, this despite it is considered one of TIME’s 100 best novels of all time.
That said, I hope I am wrong. Warner Bros. has already announced several really cool items that will come as special features on the DVD and Blu-ray releases and the more success the film enjoys I believe the more money Warners will throw into it to appease the fans. We already know the story of “The Black Freighter” will be a part of the DVD/Blu-ray release, but as I told someone recently, I think this may end up being one of the first DVD releases where I will want to watch every minute of every special feature.
Now, go read David’s perspective if you haven’t done so already, and don’t forget to weigh in with your opinion in the comment section below.
