Breaking Watchmen News...Not Good!

[Odowankenobi]

Really? You think that a film based on a cult hit book (Yes, cult. Watchmen is not mainstream, and the ones excited for it represent a small niche) could potentially outperform the latest installment in an already established franchise that does have mainstream popularity?

 

[Entropy]

Watchmen is the better story by far, better director and will shock most viewers and get some buzz because of it. Wolvie's got Hugh Jackman and a PG/PG13 rating so it will naturally make more bank because of those reasons. Most kids will not be allowed to see Watchmen so they'll go see Wolvie instead.

Thank goodness they did not give into the temptation to make Watchmen mainstream, aka a higher gross, by casting a name actor like Jackman or watering the story down from a hard R.

 

[FQRizzo]

Really? You think that a film based on a cult (Yes, cult. Watchmen is not mainstream, and the ones excited for it represent a small niche) could potentially outperform the latest installment in an already established franchise that does have mainstream popularity?

Maybe, but Watchmen has huge buzz surrounding it because the trailer debuted before The Dark Knight in theaters.

 

[The Drizzle]

Thank goodness they did not give into the temptation to make Watchmen mainstream, aka a higher gross, by casting a name actor like Jackman or watering the story down from a hard R.

No, but they gave in to changing the ending, which is still a cop-out to me. No excuse I have heard yet sounds good enough. Just the usual Hollywood bullpuckey.

 

[Entropy]

No, but they gave in to changing the ending, which is still a cop-out to me. No excuse I have heard yet sounds good enough. Just the usual Hollywood bullpuckey.

The ending is a weird WTF by design. I can see how mainstream audiences would be confused and irritated by it. In fact there's a lot to confuse the average person, 98% of which they have kept, even the wacky TotBF pirate story, at least for the video release. I can understand why they'd change the climax, not sure I'd go so far as to call it a cop out. Some stuff that works on the page has to be adapted, but the purist fanboy in me wishes it was a 100% literal 12 hour miniseries adaptation. You'd have more time to foreshadow the ending and make it work in that format. Does the new ending miss the whole point of the story as I fear? We shall see.

 

[The Josh]

I just want this to hit when its supposed to. All that I saw of it at SDCC makes me very interested in how the film will turn out.

 

[IrishJedi]

Watchmen is not mainstream, and the ones excited for it represent a small niche.

I'm just fine and dandy with that, too. I'll pull my hair out if all of the TDKids hop over to the WATCHMEN bandwagon.

 

[The Drizzle]

The ending is a weird WTF by design. I can see how mainstream audiences would be confused and irritated by it. In fact there's a lot to confuse the average person, 98% of which they have kept, even the wacky TotBF pirate story, at least for the video release. I can understand why they'd change the climax, not sure I'd go so far as to call it a cop out. Some stuff that works on the page has to be adapted, but the purist fanboy in me wishes it was a 100% literal 12 hour miniseries adaptation. You'd have more time to foreshadow the ending and make it work in that format. Does the new ending miss the whole point of the story as I fear? We shall see.

That ending was good enough to make Time Magazine's list of 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present. That's *novels*, not comic books, not graphic novels. Real literature novels. No manner of excuse is going to convince me it was the right decision to change it. If the public can understand and buy the complex premise, the ending should be fine, too. As awesome as the movie looks, I am so afraid of that ending- it just looks built to satisfy the Michael Bay crowd.

 

[IrishJedi]

That ending was good enough to make Time Magazine's list of 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present. That's *novels*, not comic books, not graphic novels. Real literature novels. No manner of excuse is going to convince me it was the right decision to change it. If the public can understand and buy the complex premise, the ending should be fine, too. As awesome as the movie looks, I am so afraid of that ending- it just looks built to satisfy the Michael Bay crowd.

How about the fact that this is a movie and not a piece of written literature that has the luxury of a complex tapestry of sub-plots woven together that usually take more than a single reading to fully comprehend?

There is a reason people have considered WATCHMEN "unfilmable" over the years. A full-on adaptation of WATCHMEN would easily run 5-6 hours. There is no way that was ever going to happen.

The movie can stand on its own as a interpretation of the book and its characters and themes without every piece of minutiae. Having "The Squid" at the end would have necessitated a lot more screen-time and backstory/build-up throughout the movie than simply the end. Without that, then indeed it would be a "WTF?" moment for anyone who's never read the book.

The thread of using a faux alien invasion to bring mankind together has obviously been excised. I, for one, can live with that... because from all accounts the moral checkmate of the ending (which is the real point) remains intact. And there is nothing "Michael Bay" about that stuff, at all.

 

[DinoLast]

I think that Fox would be thrilled to see the release date postponed so that Watchmen doesn't steal thunder from their Wolverine movie in the Spring. They have the inferior product and they know it.

Xmen 3 was inferior
But look how that turned out box office wise

 

[Entropy]

That ending was good enough to make Time Magazine's list of 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present. That's *novels*, not comic books, not graphic novels. Real literature novels. No manner of excuse is going to convince me it was the right decision to change it. If the public can understand and buy the complex premise, the ending should be fine, too. As awesome as the movie looks, I am so afraid of that ending- it just looks built to satisfy the Michael Bay crowd.

It wasn't the 100 greatest endings of all time list was it? There's more to it than the resolution. Don't get me wrong, it's a great, great ending and almost all of that will be intact, no doubt,

Spoiler:

Ozzy's memorable line, Rorschach's death, the complicit lying, the journal,

just not the WTF

Spoiler:

alien vagina monster

And the story can still work and maintain that slam to the gut shock without it, just not sure they accomplished that or not. Even if the changes work and make sense (fingers crossed), there will be ^^^^^ing, I'm sure.


EDIT: once again, a great, well thought out post, Irish. I completely agree.

 

[IrishJedi]

It wasn't the 100 greatest endings of all time list was it? There's more to it than the resolution. Don't get me wrong, it's a great, great ending and almost all of that will be intact, no doubt,

Spoiler:

Ozzy's memorable line, Rorschach's ending, the journal,

just not the WTF

Spoiler:

alien vagina monster

And the story can still work and make sense without it, just not sure they accomplished that or not. Even if the changes work and make sense (fingers crossed), there will be ^^^^^ing, I'm sure.

 

[Odowankenobi]

It wasn't the 100 greatest endings of all time list was it? There's more to it than the resolution. Don't get me wrong, it's a great, great ending and almost all of that will be intact, no doubt,

Spoiler:

Ozzy's memorable line, Rorschach's death, the complicit lying, the journal,

just not the WTF

Spoiler:

alien vagina monster

And the story can still work and maintain that slam to the gut shock without it, just not sure they accomplished that or not. Even if the changes work and make sense (fingers crossed), there will be ^^^^^ing, I'm sure.


EDIT: once again, a great, well thought out post, Irish. I completely agree.

Agreed. Honestly, I'll riot if the line:

Spoiler:

"I did it 35 minutes ago"

is not in the film. That single line just made my jaw hit the floor the first time I read Watchmen. I'm perfectly cool with them removing the aformentioned element that has been mentioned as removed as long as the point of the endind is kept in tact, which I'm sure it will be. To change that would be to render the story pointless.

 

[Darklord Dave]

Please keep discussion of the ending out of this thread or use spoiler tags.

I don't think the release date is as safe as all that. The judge seems to be very biased towards Fox, he's ruled against WB before for this kind of thing (Dukes of Hazzard, which was settled) and he could slap an injunction on the film so that it can't be released until the matter is settled. It's unlikely, but it's possible.

 

[IrishJedi]

That line is in there.

 

[Odowankenobi]

Please keep discussion of the ending out of this thread or use spoiler tags.

Um...we were using spoiler tags.

 

[Darklord Dave]

Not everyone and not completely, I skipped over when people started talking about the ending. But there's no need to bring it up in this thread anyway.

 

[Odowankenobi]

Very well, then. I've said my piece on it anyways.

 

[The Drizzle]

How about the fact that this is a movie and not a piece of written literature that has the luxury of a complex tapestry of sub-plots woven together that usually take more than a single reading to fully comprehend?

There is a reason people have considered WATCHMEN "unfilmable" over the years. A full-on adaptation of WATCHMEN would easily run 5-6 hours. There is no way that was ever going to happen.

The movie can stand on its own as a interpretation of the book and its characters and themes without every piece of minutiae. Having "The Squid" at the end would have necessitated a lot more screen-time and backstory/build-up throughout the movie than simply the end. Without that, then indeed it would be a "WTF?" moment for anyone who's never read the book.

The thread of using a faux alien invasion to bring mankind together has obviously been excised. I, for one, can live with that... because from all accounts the moral checkmate of the ending (which is the real point) remains intact. And there is nothing "Michael Bay" about that stuff, at all.

Guess I better spoilerize this...

Spoiler:

Excising the "alien threat" idea kills the whole purpose of the antagonist- any threat that is terrestrial would not have any hope of uniting the world. A terrestrial threat changes the story entirely.

 

[The Drizzle]

EDIT: once again, a great, well thought out post, Irish. I completely agree.

And... you may not after you see it.