Watchmen Movie

Watchmen Warner, $28.98/$34.98; Blu-ray, $35.99 Zack Snyder's big-screen version of Alan Moore's beloved graphic novel "Watchmen" gets the broad strokes right, telling a sexy, blood-spattered story about a band of discredited heroes who reunite to solve the murder of one of their own. But despite some stunning visual effects and a few bravura sequences, the "Watchmen" movie comes off a little flat.

Watchmen Warner, $28.98/$34.98; Blu-ray, $35.99 Zack Snyder's big-screen version of Alan Moore's beloved graphic novel "Watchmen" gets the broad strokes right, telling a sexy, blood-spattered story about a band of discredited heroes who reunite to solve the murder of one of their own. But despite some stunning visual effects and a few bravura sequences, the "Watchmen" movie comes off a little flat.

The iconic image from "Watchmen," Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' ground-breaking graphic novel, is a yellow button sporting the familiar happy-face design. Next to the cheerful smile, though, you'll find a foreboding splatter of blood.

"Watchmen" dropped a precipitous 68% this weekend, grossing $17.8 million after doing $55.2 million in its opening weekend. Forget about Humpty Dumpty -- a real human being might end up in the emergency room after a drop like that (the movie fell 50% overseas as well). Only in Hollywood could anyone put a smiley face on that kind of fall. Sure enough, in Variety's box-office story Monday, Jeff Goldstein (no relation), Warner Bros.'

On a wintry day here last year, Zack Snyder hunkered down in a dank prison cell, peered between the bars and watched bloodthirsty inmates run riot. All the smoke and screams only made him smile; the fiery cellblock he saw before him looked nearly identical to the one in the hand-drawn pages of "Watchmen," the landmark 1985 graphic novel. The director didn't have to rely on memory -- he had a rolled-up copy of the comic book on the set with him.

The trailer for the highly anticipated superhero movie "Watchmen" promises intense on-screen action, larger-than-life characters and scathing social commentary. But lately the movie has become better known for its courtroom drama, with 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. continuing to clash over interests in the film. Fox is trying to block Warner's scheduled March 6 release, claiming that it controls the rights to the movie through a series of deals it made with the producer, Lawrence Gordon.

The court fight over "The Watchmen" is costing Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, but the biggest bill of all could fall to the film's producer, Larry Gordon, his lawyers and their insurers, who could be on the hook for substantially more money. Court documents in the nearly yearlong dispute over the superhero movie's distribution rights show that Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox reached a settlement Thursday night on their copyright dispute over the superhero movie "Watchmen," concluding a legal drama between two Hollywood studios that threatened to upend one of the spring's biggest movies. The agreement paves the way for Warner Bros. to release "Watchmen" as planned March 6.

Director Zack Snyder has said he labored to adapt the ground-breaking graphic novel "Watchmen" faithfully, so that comic book fanatics would not be disappointed. Whether another segment of the audience will be enthusiastic is another question. In a notable sign, surveys of potential moviegoers released Monday suggest that young males may not be embracing the movie as heartily as older die-hard devotees who can't wait for "Watchmen's" arrival in theaters this weekend.

Lawyers for 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. told a judge Friday that they were trying to settle the copyright lawsuit over "Watchmen," a signal that the nearly year-old court fight over the superhero movie may be nearing a conclusion. The attorneys were to appear before U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess to schedule a trial later this month over the film's distribution rights when they told the judge that settlement talks were underway. Warner Bros.

In a special-effects bonanza such as "Watchmen," a single effect like Dr. Manhattan's eerie blue look could easily be lost in the tumult of nuclear explosions, flying ships, Martian palaces and Antarctic lairs. But with more than 300 shots totaling about 38 minutes of screen time, the effect had to be executed to perfection. Since digitally adding the blue glow to the superhero character played by Billy Crudup in post-production would be prohibitively expensive, John "D.J."

Everybody is talking about "Watchmen." Now if only more people would watch it. Amid a flurry of anticipation and hype, director Zack Snyder's superhero epic opened last weekend with $55.2 million in U.S. ticket sales -- a solid but less-than-blockbuster debut for a movie that Warner Bros. and its partners will have spent $200 million-plus to make and market. The question now is whether all the Internet and water cooler chatter will translate into footsteps into the theaters this weekend.

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.

Director Zack Snyder has said he labored to adapt the ground-breaking graphic novel "Watchmen" faithfully, so that comic book fanatics would not be disappointed. Whether another segment of the audience will be enthusiastic is another question. In a notable sign, surveys of potential moviegoers released Monday suggest that young males may not be embracing the movie as heartily as older die-hard devotees who can't wait for "Watchmen's" arrival in theaters this weekend.

On a wintry day here last year, Zack Snyder hunkered down in a dank prison cell, peered between the bars and watched bloodthirsty inmates run riot. All the smoke and screams only made him smile; the fiery cellblock he saw before him looked nearly identical to the one in the hand-drawn pages of "Watchmen," the landmark 1985 graphic novel. The director didn't have to rely on memory -- he had a rolled-up copy of the comic book on the set with him.

Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox reached a settlement Thursday night on their copyright dispute over the superhero movie "Watchmen," concluding a legal drama between two Hollywood studios that threatened to upend one of the spring's biggest movies. The agreement paves the way for Warner Bros. to release "Watchmen" as planned March 6.

The fiery prison riot scene was over and, mopping the sweat from his brow, actor Jackie Earle Haley was heading back to his trailer in seach of some lunch. It was a crisp fall day in 2007 on the set of "Watchmen," the most challenging comic-book movie project ever filmed, and Haley was trying to soak in every heroic moment.

Warner Bros. is urging a federal judge to move up the date on which he will hear arguments about whether the studio may release the much-anticipated movie "Watchmen," arguing that "time is of the essence," with tens of millions of dollars in marketing expenses on the line. "Watchmen," based on a graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, is scheduled for release March 6. But the movie is at the center of a bitter legal battle between Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox. U.S.

The court fight over "The Watchmen" is costing Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, but the biggest bill of all could fall to the film's producer, Larry Gordon, his lawyers and their insurers, who could be on the hook for substantially more money. Court documents in the nearly yearlong dispute over the superhero movie's distribution rights show that Warner Bros.

The fiery prison riot scene was over and, mopping the sweat from his brow, actor Jackie Earle Haley was heading back to his trailer in seach of some lunch. It was a crisp fall day in 2007 on the set of "Watchmen," the most challenging comic-book movie project ever filmed, and Haley was trying to soak in every heroic moment.