Who will watch The Watchmen?

[The Curmudgeon]

Far be it from me to get all negative on a potentially classic comic book movie, but I really do have doubts about The Watchmen.

Not the film. By all accounts and judging by some of the press its been getting, it should be good - but will it be a hit?

The director is trying to push for a 3 hour movie, and its obvious a lot of money will be getting pumped into it. Which is good. But, let's be real here - who the hell has heard of The Watchmen? I'd like to think of myself as a bit of a comic fan, and even I've never read a Watchmen comic book. Heard about them alright - just never actually picked up a book.

And this is what worries me. While there'll be a small but devoted fan base eagerly awaiting this film, I'm afraid its going to be met with shrugs of indifference from the great unwashed. And as much as I hate to admit it - they're the ones that decide whether a film is a hit or not, (not to mention if there will be a sequel).

And OK, Iron Man was an enormous hit and he doesn't have the star power of, say, Spider-Man, but he's Superman compared to these guys. And it also had the savvy casting and star power of Robert Downey JR and Gwyneth Paltrow. I don't think Billy Crudup and Jeffrey Dean Morgan are going to put many asses in seats.

Hey, I hope I'm wrong. I really do. Essentially, I want ALL comic book movies to do well, because then they keep getting made. A huge chunk of the conversations in The Fortress revolve around these things, and I certainly don't want to see any franchise killers like Batman and Robin ever again.

What do you think? Will (potentially) good reviews and a dedicated fanbase be enough?

[trashcanman]

"Watchmen" is considered by-and-large to be the best graphic novel of all time. I applaud the ambition and the notion that quality will trump name-recognition for this project. If not one three hour superhero flick, splitting it in two would probably work. I will absolutely see it unless I hear it's crap, which is unlikely. I've had the comic on my wishlist forever, but I'm not sure I want to read it now that they're making a movie because I don't want reading the classic story beforehand to ruin an otherwise excellent film. But it's hard to resist; we'll see how it pans out.

[The Curmudgeon]

That's a good point about not reading it because of the movie. With almost all of these comic book movies I pretty much know what's going to happen. Like, say, Fantastic Four 2 - you KNOW Silver Surfer is going to turn on Galactus. You KNOW what the black goo is in Spidey 3 and what's going to happen with it. You KNOW what's going to happen to Emil Blonsky in Incredible Hulk.

So to NOT know who these people are and what happens? It'll be a (graphic) novel concept.