Black Freighter to Sail Five Days After Watchmen

Posted by Cole Abaius (cole.abaius@filmschoolrejects.com) on May 27, 2008

Amidst a ton of business jargon and financial speculation about DVD sales and how rising gas prices means corn will make movies more expensive and how we’re in a recession forever, a New York Times article published yesterday confirms that Snyder and company are bringing the animated The Black Freighter to DVD less than a week after Watchmen hits theaters.

Run on sentences aside, this is awesome, doubleplus good news for geeks everywhere who have been clamoring for the story to be included in the story.

Why is it a win?

For decades, people smarter than I have speculated that “Watchmen” was not filmable, and one of the main reasons was the Black Freighter subplot. So crucial to the story, yet such a break from the action - it works well in the printed medium in a way it couldn’t on screen. It may seem like a punt, but by releasing the story separately, fans will still get to taste the bitter salt-sea water after Watchmen wets their degenerate superhero appetite. Plus, it seems obvious that The Black Freighter will be included in the Watchmen DVD upon its release. Double plus, and this is speculation, how possible (and cool) is it that we could see a Director’s Cut which splices in the Black Freighter story line into Watchmen ?

Then fans could really see if it weighs the film down too much or makes it that much more incredible.

On the internet side of things, Snyder will also be releasing several short form pieces of Watchmen actors narrating as panels of the graphic novel flash on screen. We’ll keep you posted as soon as those get, you know, posted.

Hail Nixon!

Read more articles by Cole Abaius