'Tales of the Black Freighter' Getting DVD Release
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Mystery & Suspense, Warner Brothers, Newsstand, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek
Watchmen was always going to be a big deal -- but it actually just got bigger. I was among the fans just counting themselves lucky to get the Black Freighter (and to see Gerard Butler involved in it after all), and it looks just about everything from the graphic novel will make it on screen after all, in one way or another.The New York Times reported today that in an effort to revive their flagging DVD sales, Warner Bros will be releasing a DVD on 03/10/09 (that's five days after Watchmen hits theatres) that will include Tales of the Black Freighter, and Under the Hood. The latter is, of course, Hollis Mason's tell-all about his life as the Nite Owl.
At some point in the future, Warner Bros plans to release an "ultimate edition" of the film that will splice Tales and Hood in, which means you will have one heck of a marathon. Says Zack Snyder himself, "The überfans of this property are going to go crazy for that."
Snyder was eager to participate in Warners direct-to-DVD plan because it was the only way he could feasibly film everything. "I thought the Black Freighter story would never see the light of day," Snyder says. "The main picture is nearing three hours long and I know I have a fight on my hands just with that." The director's original plan was to tell the Black Freighter story in the film, 300 style, but the studio balked at the $20 million budget.
It's a win-win situation for everyone at this point. And because Warners knows, deep down, the majority of non-fans will not be lured into a theatre upon merely seeing a tie-in DVD on a store shelf, they are also planning a series of "Webisodes." Each webisode of The Watchmen Motion Comic will run about twenty minutes, and be a panel-by-panel slideshow of the graphic novel, narrated by an actor. This is a pretty sad commentary on modern literacy, isn't it? These too will appear on DVD at some point, for those still unwilling to crack open a book.
I continue to be impressed with the fight Snyder has put up for this movie -- and that Warner Bros is realizing that it is a property worth the deluxe treatment. Even if they are only seeing the financial angle, they appreciate that it is a graphic novel loaded with potential. That's almost good enough for me.
[via CHUD]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-26-2008 @ 8:19PM
Peter Hall said...
Its great that we will have the Black Freighter sooner rather than later, but I'm far more interested in the later mentioned by Snyder. If Watchmen edges three hours alone, it has got to push three and a quarter with the animated content. One dreams of even more...
I can already feel the anticipation of nights years away when niche theaters screen the entire thing. It's either going to be a geek Lawrence of Arabia or Waterworld.
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5-26-2008 @ 8:09PM
NvM said...
sounds cool
but I don't know if the Black Freighter could truly stand alone on it's own.
To an even more extent with Under the Hood.
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5-27-2008 @ 2:56AM
V.M.L. said...
Blah, DVD sales are going down because DVDs are being released too soon! Its been killing anticipation. I miss the good ol' days when videos and DVDs were released 6 months or more after a movie was in theatres.
Anyway, I too hate the idea of webisodes. I get the feeling that it'll make the graphic novel look stupid, as if its too "complex" for most people to read. That's just my opinion.
Other than that, I like the fact that "Tales of the Black Freighter" AND "Under the Hood" are being made into features. I wasn't expecting "Hood" to be shown but its an important part of the novel that has to be told to audiences.
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5-27-2008 @ 4:26AM
Milhuisen said...
I gotta admit, I had zero faith in this film, now I'm really, really excited about it.
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5-27-2008 @ 9:43AM
Astin said...
Considering both Under the Hood and The Black Freighter are important literary aspects of the novel, I imagine it would be more than the "überfans" who would be interested in them being combined.
Yes, the story can be told without them, but Hood offers so much background and texture to the events of the book, and Freighter provides a none-too-subtle parallel to the more "sinister" events occuring. Not to mention its later direct tie-in.
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5-27-2008 @ 12:36PM
JD said...
Wow, you guys really must have not watched the original Indy movies in quite sometime. A Luger shot through like 4 Nazis, Indy had an RPG before it was invented, a man had his beating heart pulled from his chest while he was still alive. The Indy movies aren't perfect movies, but they're great for what they are. I personally really liked the new movie, even more so the second time. I still have intentions to see it again.
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