Zack Snyder Slims Down The Watchmen

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 3, 2008

In a recent interview with the folks at Scifi Wire, Watchmen director Zack Snyder and his wife, producer Deborah Snyder talked about the film’s run time. And to the potential dismay of some fans, Snyder admitted that while the final runtime is not set, the film is getting shorter. ”We’re getting really close,” producer Deborah Snyder said in a telephone interview on Nov. 18. “We’re at two hours and 35 minutes.”

Director Zack Snyder added: “The movie’s pretty long … compared to 300, which was an hour and 58 minutes. The director’s cut [of Watchmen] is about three hours and 10 minutes long. It has even more than the theatrical version as far as the detail that gets even closer to the graphic novel.”

Snyder also talked more about “Tales of the Black Freighter,” which is still set to be a DVD extra. From where I am sitting, the length of Watchmen won’t be as important as the way the story flows. From what I’ve heard though, there is no drag in its two and a half hour plus runtime, so keeping it long shouldn’t be a problem. What fans will be eyeing is whether or not iconic moments from the book are missing — that could spell trouble. What fans should understand though is that a two hour and 45 minute movie is a tough sell for most moviegoers. As well, a movie that long will see less rotation on a given day in a theater, which could negatively impact the box office. So in a sense, it would be a smart move, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

Do you care that Watchmen is being cut down a little bit?

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Jud

I don't really care how long it runs as long as its good. I'm interested in seeing what they leave out, having read the book a few times I have a few ideas on what won't make the cut...As awesome as the book is, there are some slow parts that wouldn't HAVE to be in the film to have the story make sense. That said, I can't wait to see the full version, and I wish they'd at least release the uncut in theatres, even if only in major markets. Book fans deserve that.

Alericc

And this is the point where Lord of the Rings went from a great movie to a good movie. Everyone agreed that the directors cut with ALL the footage included was substancially better than the hacked down version.

So when Watchemen gets bad revues the director can point his finger at the editing and blame the studio for not including the full movie. It seems strange to me that they are saying this before they even have the film fully finished.

Patrick

Hate to disagree with you here, but the theatrical versions werre substantially better, and the drama and flow worked much better. Often, deleted scenes put back in the extended cuts ruined the drama of the film (like making the end of Two Towers less dramatic and more goofy, or ruining the surprise of Aragorn and company saving the day with their army of the dead and thus ruining the sense of dread and despair that battle had until they showed up).

Only geeks who care about plot over drama, character and substance like the extended versions better. The scenes werent cut for runtime (as it was already 3hrs long, and King was 3 1/2 in theaters!) but rather to create better drama and flow! Sorry

Nick

Speaking of Lord of the Rings, why are they so concerned about it being three hours? I was in seventh grade when the first movie came out and I could sit through it perfectly.

CaptainReg0981

Yea but you were 7th grade what about now?

CaptainReg0981

Well I remember LOTR being long and when the holidays came they came out with an extended cut which made at least 1 hr and 10 min longer. I hope they'll have the cuts in DVD or Blue ray. I read the graphic novel I hope they do not cut the good parts. I agree on most of the comments everyone here.

Leon Kennedy

thats easy nick because the average movie gooer looses interest in the movie pretty early on
it has to be a very addicting and good movie, that when you sit through everyminute it has certain beats that keeps you watching

its hard to sell a 3 hour movie to anyone because of that

lets take the dark knight for example
the running time is 152 min
which is longer than usual for a normal movie

but that was not just any normal movie
and christopher nolan and the editor obviously got there point across in the movie
because i was sucked into the movie the whole god damn time, there was a point where i was like holy shit this movie is long as fuc* but i was enjoying every second of it

RobertFure

I was one who criticized The Dark Knights length. While the extended LOTR stuff is awesome, how often do you invest the 4 hours to watch it? Cutting it down is a good idea as long as it stays a great film. The added/cut stuff can come out on DVD and everyone should be happy.

Bob

Here is a good Idea... tell the Director to stop doing so much stupid slow motion shots, then he will have cut the movie in half.

bill

As long as we dont get another kingdom of heaven screw up, in which a truly great film was brutaly cut down into a mearly very good one. As long as the main meat of the story is there and of course each of the main characters flash backs (especialy dr manhattan) if zack snyder has basicaly just trimmed down scenes, condensing then rather than removing them compleatly it could very well still be a great film. But im definately worried.

Zack Snyder Slims Down The Watchmen

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