Seems like Warner Brothers is pinngin a good bit of their hopes and dreams on Zack Snyder’s upcoming “Watchmen” adaptation. In an effort to help stave off the industry-wide problem of slipping sales on DVDs, the studio has had Snyder direct a second flick alongside the main Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons adaptation - “The Black Freighter,” the comic within the Watchmen comic, is getting the full animated direct to DVD treatment. Slated to hit stores a few days after “Watchmen” hits theaters, WB is hoping it’ll help boost interest in the theatrical released film while offering a boost to the company’s DVD division.
Warner knows releasing a related film on DVD at the same time it is trying to motivate people to buy tickets to “Watchmen” is not without risk. Consumers could become confused about which is which. And if they are disappointed in the quality of “Tales of the Black Freighter,” the plan might hurt sales of the “Watchmen” DVD.
“We feel a great responsibility to do this well for exactly these reasons,” said Diane Nelson, president of Warner Premiere, the division responsible for direct-to-DVD projects. “The movies that we do under this parallel content strategy have to be viable in their own right.” Although Ms. Nelson declined to reveal the budget for “Tales of the Black Freighter,” she said it was 30 percent to 50 percent higher than a typical direct-to-DVD effort.
Still, some concessions were made because of the budget, Mr. Snyder said. The original plan was to tell the “Black Freighter” story in a visual style similar to the mock-historical “300.” But an early budget was approaching $20 million and the studio balked, he said. Instead, the feature will be animated.
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