8 Minutes is Cut from Watchmen Theatrical Release

8 Minutes is Cut from Watchmen Theatrical Release

Previously Zack Snyder told us that his Watchmen movie had a running time of 2 hours and 43 minutes. Now, we're told it has gotten shortened to 2 hours and 35 minutes. But which 8 minutes got the axe?!!

News
By ComicBookMovie - Dec 03, 2008 09:12 AM EST
Filed Under: Watchmen
Source: SciFi.com

So says Sci-Fi.com.

Zack and Deborah Snyder, the husband-and-wife directing/producing team behind the upcoming Watchmen movie, told SCI FI Wire that the film's final length hasn't yet been approved, but that it is getting shorter.

"We're getting really close," producer Deborah Snyder said in a telephone interview on Nov. 18. "We're at two hours and 35 minutes."

Director Zack Snyder added: "The movie's pretty long ... compared to 300, which was an hour and 58 minutes. The director's cut [of Watchmen] is about three hours and 10 minutes long. It has even more than the theatrical version as far as the detail that gets even closer to the graphic novel."

Zack Snyder has been trying to be as faithful as possible to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' seminal graphic novel, which tells a complex story of superheroes in an alternate-universe 1985 New York. The graphic novel interpolates other comics and book excerpts into its narrative, something Zack Snyder has been trying to approximate in his film as well.

Zack was shooting an animated version of the graphic novel's comic-within-a-comic, Tales of the Black Freighter, which is envisioned as a separate DVD release coinciding with Watchmen's theatrical debut in March. Eventually, his plan is to edit the Black Freighter material directly into Watchmen, presumably for a home-video release.

"The Black Freighter version of the movie that we're working on--which has the ins and outs of the Black Freighter comic book woven through it, with an animated version of the Black Freighter--will be about three hours and 40 minutes," Zack said. "So there's a huge epic version of Watchmen, which will probably come out after the movie's theatrical release, for hardcore [fans]."

Fans of the grahic novel know that a minor character in Watchmen reads "Marooned," an issue of Tales of the Black Freighter, in which pirates of the title pirate ship wreck a young seaman's vessel, stranding him on a deserted island. Surrounded by the bodies of his dead shipmates, the mariner concocts a gruesome plan to make his way off the island in a desperate attempt to reach his home, wife and children ahead of the pirate ship.

"As you watch it, you can have this experience where it's like the graphic novel," Zack Snyder said. "I haven't shied away from trying to enjoy the artwork. It's been fun to make some of those pictures real."

Watchmen opens March 6, 2009

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Shaman
Shaman - 12/3/2008, 9:59 AM
Never quite understood why movies had to fit a certain time length at the boxoffice....
jordomac
jordomac - 12/3/2008, 10:04 AM
what about Titanic? what about Braveheart? what about Scarface?... ok maybe not Scarface. It didn't do that great at the box office. and Braveheart paled in comparison to Titanic.
WHAT ABOUT TITANIC!?!?!?!
Shaman
Shaman - 12/3/2008, 10:23 AM
Yes well, regardless of the time they run, even if the movie is 3hrs and a half, Theaters are bigger now and so they can litterally give more than one room to a single movie and nowadays, people line up for midnight showings on Thursdays so it doesn't matter at what time they finish. So there's really no logical reason to cut movies anymore. In fact, longer movies have proven in the past that they rake in more money as our friend Jordan pointed out. Theaters will always be able to give 1 matinee and 2 or more evening showings.
CrookedJaw
CrookedJaw - 12/3/2008, 10:50 AM
hmm...now i'm more interested in the Director's cut, and the second version he said that would be released for hard-core fans. Sweet, I had high hopes for this movie, and it seems to be living up to them so far. But as far as the point mentioned above, I agree...there's really no reason now to make movies a certain time.
Shaman
Shaman - 12/3/2008, 11:07 AM
Well not in this day and age at least.
Vex
Vex - 12/3/2008, 11:23 AM
You make a good point, Shaman and Jordan, but like CBM said it's a money making issue. You can have it showing in multiple theaters for easy rotation, but you'll still be able to make more money per viewing if you get them in and out faster. Thank goodness for DVD.

Also, personally, there is only so long I can sit in a theater seat before my spine protests. During LOTR was pushing it, any longer and I would have walked out of that theater shaped like a "L".
I didn't sit through the whole movie during Titanic, I was in the dog house for laughing out loud when the dude ricocheted off the boat propeller.
She made me rent it, so I still couldn't escape it but I was the hero of the three other guys sitting in the theater that I got to leave early. Ah, good times.
But, anyway, until they make movie theater seats reclining and more comfortable for the long haul, with built in robots that with a push of a button it will drop kick anyone in the throat for talking on phones, looking at their text messages, talking through the whole thing, laughing like a tool and repeating the joke said on screen right after it was said, arriving late with your dinner in your arms (eat at home!), getting up to piss every ten minutes, forgetting where they sit when they get back and breathing down my top looking for the sap who brought them... then I'll be all for not editing a film and sit there as long as it takes.

But until then, I'll be happy buying the extra cut on DVD, watching it in my own home without putting up with "those people" for longer than I have to.

Lastly, I think at the end of the day, it's about making the right choices in editing. Remember Daredevil? And then the director's cut came out? That's a good example of making bad choices in the editing booth.
Spock
Spock - 12/3/2008, 12:14 PM
I do agree with all, but I also would have to say there has to some kind of limit. Most people may not want to sit in a movie if it is really long. So directors, screenwriter etc have to use some type of logic when they create movies. Thats probably why books are better & have more detail in them. You can't always make a movie exactly like a book, manga, or comic books. Anime I think is a better format for stuff like this--its more flexible.
IonParallax
IonParallax - 12/3/2008, 1:34 PM
No, you can't trust hollywood to do the right thing, it's hollywood, get over it or stop watching movies, because no matter what the base material is, IT'S GOING TO BE CHANGED TO SUIT THE BIG SCREEN. So what there's not a giant retarded squid in the movie...Does that really affect the outcome? No, it doesn't, it only affects the parts of the story associated with the giant squid. Which, in this case, is the ending news reports, and the island with all the artists and scientists that were captured. But they're still captured, and I bet that's what got cut, the 8 minutes of them on the boat, leaving the island, only to be blown to bits before having sex. WAH. I said DAYS AGO exactly what this post was about. TO A T, i said the movie is going to be 2.5 hours long, a 3 hr long DVD uncut version AND a supplement version that will be 3.5 hrs long and will include the Tales of he Black Freighter story. If you're SOOOOO uninterested in this movie, why would you download it? Why would you bother to see it?hy comment on it? So you can vent your frustrations for something you have no right to complain about since you didn't write draw or ink it? The ONLY person with any reasonable ability to complain about what they do to this is Alan Moore.He screwed himself by getting involved with DC, if he hadn't and was just went to a publishing house or something, he might just be ok now. They screwed him royally and have been doing so every time they adapt one of his books, except "From Hell", which was awesome. Also, "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" was cool, of course I saw it before I read it, so that helped a little, and yes Tom Sawyer was a stupid addition, get over it, not your property.

Watchmen is going to kick ass in ways most other movies (not just comic book adaptations) can't or won't do. It is going to be over the top, as well as down to Earth, more realistic than reality, and more fanciful than anything done previously. If this movie doesn't set the bar for all of the following adaptations then I will shit a brick and eat it for lunch.
Shaman
Shaman - 12/3/2008, 1:55 PM
Well, if what you say is true ION, you just might have to "eat your words" because the more they change the outcome, the less the "adaptation" actually represents the original. That being said, i AM in favor for "improvements". Watchmen being the extravagant literature that it is, can still be improved to conect with our recent day and age in a deeper way. And if it had to be done, Snyder is the right man for the job. 300 wasn't amazing because of Frank Miller or Gerrard Buttler, it was amazing because Snyder made it amazing. And he will do that with Watchmen as well. I have faith.

But coming back to the length of the movie, sometimes a good long story is just worth being told and to have to sit through it. I remember having trouble sitting down through an hour and a half watching Spawn but i sat through 2 hours and a half with The Dark Knight like it was a breeze. Sometimes, it is worth it.
ElBeaster
ElBeaster - 12/3/2008, 3:00 PM
I find myself agreeing with just about everything that Ion and Shaman say on their posts. But I have a question for Ion. How has Alan Moore been screwed if the only comics of his that have been make into film are V for Vendetta, From Hell and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? Especially if you like Leagueof Extraordinary Gentlemen and Form Hell. I think he was royaly screwed with League of Extraordinary Gentlemen because it was nothing like the book and was in my opinion terrible. I don't want to insult you for liking it though. Its your opinion and thats cool. I thought From Hell was mediocre and did no justice to the comic. The only one that I really liked was V and that still should have been better. I don't understand Hollywood. They can have an amazing story right in front of them and still find a way to muff it up.

But Watchmen will be awesome no matter what. Those who say it isn't are just stupid. If you don't want to see it, don't go. But don't bad talk Snyder. Without him this movie would have been beyond terrible.
IonParallax
IonParallax - 12/3/2008, 3:45 PM
He was royally screwed, doesn't deter from liking the eventual outcome of the pillaged product. The League could have been ALOT better, but all in all, not too terrible. From Hell was GRRRREAT, PERIOD. V for Vendetta, I haven't seen.
warpath15
warpath15 - 12/3/2008, 6:15 PM
The scary thing is when he says "The movie's pretty long ... compared to 300."

Seriously. He's justifying cutting scenes out of Watchmen by implying that it's ok cause it's still longer than 300. Wow. Hey, maybe we can cut half the scenes out of Dark Knight... but hey it will be fine because the movie will still be longer than Daredevil. No. It doesn't work that way.

And you can say, "well it's only 8 minutes" so who cares if he cuts it. But if you use that logic than you can say it's only 8 minutes SO WHY NOT LEAVE IT IN!
warpath15
warpath15 - 12/3/2008, 6:17 PM
IonParralax said: "So what there's not a giant retarded squid in the movie...Does that really affect the outcome?"

Well yes it does actually since the OUTCOME of the movie is it's damn ending.
ElBeaster
ElBeaster - 12/3/2008, 6:51 PM
I'm not saying he wasn't screwed. He was. But his movies weren't as bad as he makes them out to be. What did he expect? Frank Miller only got lucky because of the great directors that adapted his comics.

And i did think From Hell was good. It's been a while since I've seen it so maybe I have to see it again. I'm reading the comic now and it's way different. It could never have faithfully been adapted into a movie. The people who made it did the best they could. Sure it could have been better, but so could every movie. The comic was released independantly, so some of the frames are basically porno pics and others are too graphically disguisting for film.
scottbuster2000
scottbuster2000 - 12/3/2008, 7:23 PM
"I don't understand Hollywood. They can have an amazing story right in front of them and still find a way to muff it up."
The reason for this is Hollywood is NOT a movie making industry but a MARKETING industry that happens to make movies. These movies cost so much to make that if they fail then heads will roll. Each of the big 5 studios make around 18 to 20 movies a year for theatrical release each year. The top 4 or 5 films for each studio cost 100 million plus to make and distribute and if just one these fails to reach expectation then the unenployment line gets bigger. I'm not talking the people who actually make the movie but the suits at the top. The muffing up of the story is secondary for them to the muffing of the box office take.
The real artistic responsibility falls to the main creative team of Director/Writer/Cinematographer & Editor. If this team fails then the movie fails.
Any work which is based on a novel or comic has to have a main creative team that eats and breathes for the material[Jackson with LOTR trilogy, Rami with Spidey, Nolan with Batman, Miller/Rodriguez Sin City]. When someone comes along and suggest Hogworths should be American the director & writer say NO. When someone suggest the Batman costume should have nipples the director says NO. When someone suggest Wolverine should fight on Omaha beach instead of Juno the director says NO. Tom Sawyer added to Gentlemen[What?] If it's a squid stays or goes or is replaced by flying monkeys this is the main creative teams choice. The artistic buck stops with them which brings me to one very important question to ask; Where is ALAN MOORE in all this? He has chosen to remove himself from the proceedings[Which is his personal right]. Warner Bros. is not barring him from the set and decision making process he is. If J.K. ROWING had done the same then maybe Mr.Potter would have been American in the film version. FRANK MILLER was there for Sin City, where's Mr.Moore. If WATCHMAN was my creative property I would be there, especially if Alan Moore is right[Which he is.], and that you can't trust Hollywood to do the right thing. If this movie sucks[Which it's not]then a degree of blame must lay at his door step.
iNsaneMilesy
iNsaneMilesy - 12/4/2008, 1:26 AM
I think everyone here will agree that we will all be waiting for the DVD to full enjoy it.
nemanja
nemanja - 12/4/2008, 8:14 AM
I wouldn't be surprised if in final version the movie length is 2 hours. Few months later will extended version on DVD appear = more money for the producers, and then after one year director's cut = another version of the movie to earn even more money. Let not forgett ultimat 3 disc edition with never seen before footage = even more money. Calculate this and you'll see it would be like I say.
Shaman
Shaman - 12/4/2008, 10:05 AM
I will enjoy the theatrical verison as well as i'll enjoy the uncut edition in the comfort of my own home. Whatever he does, Snyder kicks ass until proven otherwise.

ION, DUDE, go get a copy of Vendetta PRONTO...ANDALE!!! It was an amazing work that the Wachowskis gave us! Even though the comic might have been better, i thoroughly enjoyed this masterpiece. It was so good in fact that the first day i saw it on dvd, i watched it twice in a row. My reccord to this day is 5 times in a row for the first Mortal Kombat movie but i was a teenager at the time so i'm sure you all understand.

Scottbuster has a point, Moore could be more involved in the adaptations of his own work instead of staying at home and bitching about hollywood. Frank Miller would never just sit there and take it. He'd get elbow deep in it and make it his own! He made Rodriguez his bitch... rightfully! Moore can only thank his lucky stars that Snyder is on the project and not UWE BOLL! Fans of the comic are getting the best director possible for this film and they're bitching about the changes he instinctly feels are necessary, if only they knew how much worse it could actually be...
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 12/4/2008, 10:56 AM
i always have to laugh when i hear these whinging fanboys going on about how theyr going to download the movie and watch it for free..like snyder and the producers are going to be quivering at the prospect or something!guys like this are NEVER going to happy. if the movie was 4 hours long with the squid and the freighter, they would be whinging about rorschach wearing the wrong colour pants! get over it, it was never going to be like the comic, i find it frustrating that people cant seem to grasp this. look i want to see the essence of the comic in tact too, but i also want to see the best movie VERSION that ther can be. and i dont think the squid would have worked on screen..it would have been too much for non fans of the comic to swallow. and this movie is for everyone, not just the fanboys! in saying that obviously im not happy about the extra cuts, it would be easier to swallow if we new exactly what scenes they wer. and i also loved v for vendetta. its different to the comic but so what..the message is the same. league of ex gentlemen was godawful tho. i mean that just went too far in taking liberties from an amazing comic. from hell was ok..but ive never read the comic. in as much as it looks like snyder will do a good job, i disagree watchmen got the best director possible. i would have liked someone with more experience and maybe a bit less visually orientated..but again, i havnt seen the movie so cant say im right about that either. hasnt stopped some other guys on this site of course!;)
IonParallax
IonParallax - 12/4/2008, 1:22 PM
OK, warpath, the reason i'm asking if it affects the outcome, and my answer being NO, is because they REPLACED the damn squid with a machine created by Ozy and Doc Manhattan a while back. The squid was stupid, stupid in the comics and even more retarded on film. It's lame, plain and simple. I'm actually happy they nixed it because I was HIGHLY disappointed in a giant freakin' squid. Asinine. Don't get me wrong, Alan Moore does phenomenal work, but he, just like everyone else, has flaws. This one being a giant stupid squid. Gaytarded if ya ask me. The trailer looks good, the story itself is mostly intact, some things, like ror pointed out, just don't work on film. DEAL WITH IT. "Why don't the X-Men have their costumes?" Because it doesn't really work on film to be wearing bright and colorful spandex-like outfits. Also, gaytarded. DEAL WITH IT. Yes, Spiderman had his outfit, because you CAN'T do Spiderman without it. You can, however, have the X-Men in much more realistic leathery uniforms (because they're a team) than ball-hugging richard simmons gear that is so bright and colorful it serves NO purpose whatsoever in the story. That's why douche-erific Scott Summers made the joke in the movie "Would you prefer yellow Spandex?" because EVERYONE knows, it doesn't work on film. Look at Captain America in the first movie, looked STUPID, Adam West in Pajamas, Christopher Reeves or Brandon Routh as Supes. Looks retarded. But I know, you can't do Batman or Superman or Captain America without their outfits, because it's who they are. It's NOT who the X-Men are. It's just what they wear, that's why they change outfits every 5 - 10 years. Some things just can't, and won't, be seen on film. Period.
Shaman
Shaman - 12/4/2008, 1:25 PM
Man i have to say that i now enjoy this web site more than i ever did! I'm glad you're laying all your thoughts on us Roar as are you ION, i find this website has become better for it, weither we agree or not. When i first got on here this website had about 3 posts per news in average and a message board forum that sucked cause nobody whent there and now people are signing up just to reply! This is awesome! I'm hooked on this web site till it dies now!!!

Moving along... LOL

Ummm...sorry ION, i was writing my reply at the same time as you posted yours so it may be similar LOL.

I understand the FEAR that everyone has because we have already seen perfect examples of adaptation disasters on the big screen of our beloved safety blankets also known as comicbooks. But some things must change as some must remain to represent the original. Now first of all, the squid's purpose in the comic is pretty much to fall on the city and die in the prosess... how is that in any way the culminating point of the comic? The squid was not important, but the message was. The message is still intact in the adaptation of the movie but Snyder opted for a more evolved medium of relaying it. The lack of squid does not make it a discrase or sacrilege in any way, it's just taken out to make place for a more modern perception of the outcome. It's not like the squid was an evil entity spending it's whole existance trying to get it's tentacles on our fair planet and then boom, finally in the end of watchmen it gets it's chance. It had no idea it was gonna fall on our planet and didn't know what was it doing there in the first place except to die. And so what if they cut 8 minutes, do you all actually think we'll miss any major revelation from the story? The very reason why it was cut was because it had no purpose in the movie as a whole. Now how could everyone's panties get twisted over this i really can't put my finger on it...
IonParallax
IonParallax - 12/4/2008, 2:15 PM
Thanks Shaman, I agree, I enjoy this site much more now since all of the revalry in comments sections. I didn't comment until the whole Gay Superhero deal came about, which was an AWESOME argument, for the most part. But now I see so many more comments, it's quite cool. AND, I do, as well, appreciate your full-fledged passionate comments remarks and explanations. Sometimes you crack me up, which is great. Some people, however, have no reason to post what they say. "This is going to suck balls." or whatever meandering comment their childlike psyche permits them to form into a sentence, is irrelevant and useless. But for the most part, peoples opinions differ on here, and the ones who do most of the point-making (myself, Shaman, Ror, ElBeaster, Vex, Insane, Parascythe [with his dancing Spiderman, DOPE!] Unkleskeltun, Spock, Jordan, Scorpio, Gunsmith, Wolverbat, Comics Man etc etc) actually make good points AND don't take things too personally to get irate with someone who's just voicing their opinion as well. I dig it. Gives me something to do whilst at work staring at this damned monitor for 8 - 12 hrs a day. Thanks guys.
ElBeaster
ElBeaster - 12/4/2008, 2:37 PM
Ha. Thanks for the shout out. I just got my account like a week ago or so. Gives me something to do after school.
IonParallax
IonParallax - 12/4/2008, 2:41 PM
oh, and CBM (the site as a whole, not just the guy behind the Galactus Avatar) You guys don't comment enough. Like once or twice (maybe) per posting...What's the deal there?
Shaman
Shaman - 12/4/2008, 2:51 PM
Yeah, they're really busy i guess.

Oh and sorry for the sucking balls remark, it's one of my usuals when i get irate at something like... Superman Doomsday LMAO!!!
ElBeaster
ElBeaster - 12/4/2008, 3:03 PM
Shaman, you are one of the people who posts on here the most, but you don't have an avatar. Gotta get one.
IonParallax
IonParallax - 12/4/2008, 3:44 PM
Yes, we have to know what you want to represent yourself. It is a MUST! Not really, just being somewhat Nazi like. I wasn't sure if I was going to go with an avatar....BUT, once I got the name thing, I of course had to choose one that fit the name.
IonParallax
IonParallax - 12/4/2008, 3:45 PM
and YES! I am smarter than that moronic GW Bush, I don't believe, even for a microsecond, that man's IQ is anywhere NEAR 125, 112 at BEST. But nowhere even close to 125. He's a jackass.
Shaman
Shaman - 12/5/2008, 8:03 AM
LOL, you guys are cool but i frankly don't know how to get an Avatar while being at work... Can you guys enlighten me?
Shaman
Shaman - 12/5/2008, 8:05 AM
Mabe i can do it on my girlfriend's computer but can you guys tell me how or at least give me a link that shows the simplest way? That would be awesome, i've been dreaming of having an avatar and i've seen some cool ones that i'd luuuuuvvv :))
Shaman
Shaman - 12/5/2008, 10:18 AM
Actually dudes, i just figured out how and i'm workin on it!!!
IonParallax
IonParallax - 12/5/2008, 12:11 PM
...and in the next exciting Episode. Shaman reveals his true self. Dun dun DUUUUUUUUUUUN!!! Stay TUNED!
Shaman
Shaman - 12/5/2008, 2:33 PM
VOILA!!! Any a'you bastishes gotta light?
Shaman
Shaman - 12/5/2008, 2:34 PM
If any a'you wanna "refresh" their avatars, here are some "resources"...

DC:

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=106

Marvel:

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=212716
ElBeaster
ElBeaster - 12/5/2008, 3:08 PM
Don't hate me. But who is on your avatar?
IonParallax
IonParallax - 12/5/2008, 6:08 PM
Dude, it's LOBO! The freakin' last Czarnian. Extinguisher on an entire race of people. Protector of Space Dolphins, and killer of the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. One of the best low-key characters in DC. The badass on a space motorcycle, YEA!

I think his avatar comes from The Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special on Youtube. Which is live action and pretty humorous, along with this link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLkzqLHxJeQ&feature=channel
Which explains why Pilgrims have buckles on their hats. Enjoy.
ElBeaster
ElBeaster - 12/5/2008, 6:38 PM
Haha niceee.

I don't know too much about comic books. I have two big stacks of Spider-man comics and a half of a shelf of graphic novels. That's about it. I'm workin' on it though.

and this video is waaay better
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqXi8WmQ_WM
very informative
IonParallax
IonParallax - 12/5/2008, 7:51 PM
Dude, I have encyclopedic knowledge of pretty much ALL things comic books in the mainstream DC and Marvel Universes. I am an avid fan and I collected comics for about 10 - 15 years a decade or so ago...I've read oldies and new ones (My father, who got me into comics, has a collection rangin from the mid to late 60's until just a few years ago, it's AWESOME and I want it) but I have wiki'd and googled and have been reading about everything comics I can get my hands on...except comics themselves, I don't have the money to spend on them. So I go through synopsis' and various online forms of information. But I can retain the shyte like I just read it...I love the character (most) the stories, everything. Even most retcons don't really bother me, and help to explain things in a more modern way. I think the parallax retcon in Green Lantern: Rebirth was great.
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