Director Zack Snyder confirmed that there will be two longer versions of WATCHMEN on Blu-ray and DVD in July at today's press junket in Beverly Hills: an extended "Tales of the Black Freighter" edition, which will run around three-and-a-half hours, and a director's cut (sans the "Black Freighter" animated sequence), which will run about three hours and 10 minutes. Meanwhile, the theatrical cut, which bows in theaters March 6 from Warner Bros., has a running time of approximately 155 minutes.
"The Black Freighter" is the animated story-within-the-story, set up by a young boy in New York City reading a daring pirate comic that chronicles a sailor's journey home from being marooned and mirrors the turbulence in the WATCHMEN's world. "The Black Freighter" will debut March 24 as a standalone on Blu-ray and DVD from Warner Home Video.
"['The Black Freighter' version] includes [live-action] ins and outs... of the news stand... which we shot knowing that it would be on a DVD somewhere and would never make it in the movie," Snyder said.
Snyder added that Warner Bros. may release the director's cut theatrically to coincide with the July release of the Blu-ray and DVD.
Snyder also divulged a favorite scene that had to be cut from the theatrical version: the death of Hollis Mason (Stephen McKattie), the original Nite Owl.
"Actually, taking it out was easy without destroying the movie."
By VFXWorld Senior Editor Bill Desowitz
