Watchmen Movie Trailers and Reviews

Watchmen (2009)

Starring: Carla Gugino, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode, Stephen McHattie, Matt Frewer

Director: Zack Snyder

Release Date: March 6th, 2009
Release Date: 6th March, 2009

Synopsis: In a gritty and alternate 1985 the glory days of costumed vigilantes have been brought to a close by a government crackdown, but after one of the masked veterans is brutally murdered an investigation into the killer is initiated. The reunited heroes set out to prevent their own destruction, but in doing so discover a deeper and far more diabolical plot.

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Watchmen Movie Trailer

Watchmen Teaser Trailer

About the Movie

Watchmen is a 2009 superhero film directed by Zack Snyder. Based on the 1986-1987 comic book limited series Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, the film adaptation stars Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Matt Frewer, Stephen McHattie, and Laura Mennell. Set in an alternate-history 1985, Watchmen follows a group of former vigilantes as tensions heighten between the United States and the Soviet Union while an investigation of an apparent conspiracy against them uncovers something even more grandiose and sinister. The film began shooting in Vancouver in September 2007. As with his previous film 300, Snyder closely modeled his storyboards on the comic, but he chose to not shoot all of Watchmen using chroma key and opted for more sets.

Following the series’ publication, the film adaptation was mired in development hell. Producer Lawrence Gordon began developing the project at 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. with producer Joel Silver and director Terry Gilliam, the latter eventually deeming the complex novel “unfilmable”. During the 2000s, Gordon and Lloyd Levin collaborated with Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures to produce a script by David Hayter. Darren Aronofsky and Paul Greengrass were also attached to the project before it was canceled over budget disputes. The project returned to Warner Bros., where Snyder was hired to direct – Paramount remained as international distributor. Fox sued Warner Bros. for copyright violation arising from Gordon’s failure to pay a buy-out in 1991, which enabled him to develop the film at the other studios. Fox and Warner Bros. settled this before the film’s release with Fox receiving a portion of the gross.

Watchmen was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters on March 6, 2009, grossing $55 million on the opening weekend. It grossed over $180 million at the worldwide box office. Watchmen divided film critics; some critics gave it overwhelmingly positive reviews for the dark and unique take on the superhero genre, while others derided it for the same reason, as well as the R-rating, the running time, and the much-publicized accuracy to the graphic novel.

A DVD based on elements of the Watchmen universe was released, including an animated adaptation of the comic Tales of the Black Freighter within the story, starring Gerard Butler, and the documentary Under the Hood, detailing the older generation of superheroes from the film’s back-story. A director’s cut and an extended edition of the film, with Tales of the Black Freighter interspersed through the main storyline in a manner reminiscent of the comic, is also forthcoming.