Talk:Watchmen film

Briguy7783 (talk) 04:24, 12 March 2009 (UTC) Does anyone else think that this page should at least acknowledge the fact that the film's opening weekend was considered by many to be a disappointment? I know that Warner Bros. said that it did as expected because it's longer than 300, but the film was released 3,611 theaters, compared to the 3,103 for 300. Several sources, including Variety, reference that WB reportedly had hoped that it would have opened bigger (especially because of advance ticket sales for midnight screenings), and that the decline on Thursday and Friday were due to the core demographic (polled to be men over 25) having seen it already at midnight on Friday. Other factors could be some negative early reviews.

I've gotten feedback that it's not relevant, or is somehow redundant, but I think it's an point, especially considering that the main question that crops up concerning comic book movies (especially its reported $125-150 million budget and the aggressive ad campaign) is: "Will anyone who's not already a fan of the source come see it?" And the numbers seem to indicate that they haven't. I mean it's clearly not a flop (and we'll see more in the coming weeks), but the opening definitely seems to be less than expected.

Just bouncing this off you guys.

Variety: "Warners had hoped "Watchmen" would match, or even best, the $70.9 million domestic opening of Zack Snyder's previous film, "300," which bowed on the same weekend in 2007. Overseas the "Watchmen" debut also failed to match the "300" opening numbers."

Entertainment Weekly: "This movie, with a similar pedigree [to 300], a similar fan base, a similar release pattern in more than 3,000 venues, including several expensive-ticket IMAX locations, should be pretty damn big, too. But will it be bigger than 300? Marginally, yes, I think. Watchmen could be hurt by its nearly three-hour running time, but it's based on a monumental book about which excitement has been building for two decades. What's more, it's opening in a few hundred more theaters than 300 did, and ticket prices have gone up in the years since the Spahhhhrtahhhns stormed the box office."

LA Times

LA Times Blog: "Most of the buzz in Hollywood today was about whether "Watchmen's" $56-million weekend take was a boffo opening or a bust (since the Zack Snyder-directed film didn't come close to the $70 million Snyder's "300" made on exactly the same date two years ago)."

Wall Street Journal: "The R-rated, comic-book adaptation fell short of hitting the kind of numbers that the studio hoped would turn it into the next "Dark Knight."

Newsarama: "Warner Bros. was looking for Watchmen to equal or beat $70.9 million domestically, which would put it on par with director Zack Snyder’s previous comic adaptation, 300. Neither domestic nor international box office receipts matched the numbers for 300."