Dressed in skinny black jeans and rocker T-shirts, teenagers Raven McGee and Charles Valencia were perusing comic books at a store in Glendale, capping what the two friends considered a perfect Saturday after seeing the superhero blockbuster "Watchmen."
So-called fanboys of the genre, such as McGee and Valencia, helped propel the action film's weekend box-office domination with estimated ticket sales of $55.7 million, the biggest opening of any film this year.
"If you loved the comic book, you'll love the movie," said Valencia, 16, of the film released by Warner Bros. and partners Paramount Pictures and Legendary Pictures.
"We've been anticipating this since way back," said McGee, 16, who watched the movie at a midnight Imax showing in Burbank first before catching it with his friend at the Americana mall in Glendale.
But capturing the imagination of young men and comic book devotees was expected. The film's director, Zack Snyder, has built a dedicated fan base in the wake of 2007's sword-swinging epic "300," which holds the record for a March opening by grossing $70.9 million.
The question now is whether the two-hour, 43-minute "Watchmen" can win over a broader audience in the coming weeks to make the $150-million film as profitable as its studios would like.
"I actually hope so," said Dan Fellman, president of theatrical distribution at Warner Bros. "I'm sure word of mouth will help."
It won't be easy be for a film that already has had to overcome a bitter legal dispute over distribution rights with rival studio 20th Century Fox and has failed to receive the blessing of Alan Moore, author of the graphic novel from which the project was adapted.
Some of the film's momentum may be dulled by high expectations going into the weekend. After outpacing "300" in revenue Friday and impressive advance ticket sales, there was hope "Watchmen" would set a March record for an opening weekend. But by Sunday, it appeared it would fall short.
This was despite an aggressive marketing effort aimed at making the movie a must-see event, scant competition and an uptick in U.S. movie attendance.
"People always have overblown expectations for movies like this," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media by Numbers. "It did what a movie this long with an R rating should do."
"Watchmen" had the sixth-highest box-office sales on an opening weekend for an R-rated movie, about $36 million behind the leader, "The Matrix Reloaded" in 2003.
