Fans Petition WB for Long Cut of Watchmen

On this weekend’s show, we’ll discuss the lawsuit that could potentially delay or keep “Watchmen” from hitting the big-screen next year. 

Beyond the questions of when “Watchmen” may or may not hit movie screens comes the question that most fans have been wondering about since we first got news about the production–how long will the movie run?  “Watchmen” in its original graphic novel form is a rich, complex story that many fans will require a “Lord of the Rings” like running time to fully tell and do any kind of justice to the story.  And with the preview and the footage from this year’s ComicCon showing fans that director Zac Snyder is committed to bringing the graphic novel to life, the concerns about running time for the film appear to have more merit.

The current cut of the film runs two hours and fifty minutes, which is a comparatively long running time for most releases these days.  However, Snyder has said he’s working with to come up with a tighter trim while at the same time publicly expressing reservations over bringing it in under 3 hours, admitting elements of the massive, multi-layered storyline would be relegated to the cutting room floor. 

A group of rabid fans has created a preemptive protest to try and get Warner Brothers to go for an even longer cut of the film. 

“Over the past year, Zack Snyder and his production crew have been working tirelessly to bring to life the essence of Watchmen, fully aware that ‘the devil is in the detail’,” reads the petition in part.

“As with any movie Warner Bros have a responsibility to make ‘Watchmen’ a commercial success and to appeal to a broad audience, many of whom will not be familiar with the story – and therein lies the issue. While discussions with WB studio executives are ongoing about the running time of the movie, there is pressure to ensure that it comes in at below 2hrs and 50 minutes.

“We, the ‘Minutemen’ below, submit that Watchmen must be a 3 hour movie and ask WB to respect and extend the courtesy of this longer running time to the giant of all superhero stories.”

At the time of this report, the petition had been signed by over 4000 fans and you can be sure that Warner Brothers is aware of this ground-swell.  However, whether it will translate into a longer cut remains to be seen.  One aspect that may prevent “Watchmen” from running longer is an economic one.  A longer run time for “Watchmen” creates fewer slots per day that theaters can run the film, thus reducing the potential box-office returns for the film. 

One way to combat this may be to take a tactic like Peter Jackson did with “Lord of the Rings” and have Warner Brothers commit to a theatrical version and an eventual extended cut on DVD.  Whether or not this will appease the fans remains to be seen.

“Watchmen” is expected to open in theaters next year .