WB Plans DVD To Supplement Watchmen In Theaters

By Rafe Telsch: 2008-05-26 15:22:19

It’s a little unusual to hear a studio talking about a DVD release almost a year before a movie is even slated to hit theaters. A few weeks in advance of a release isn’t unheard of, but almost a year? That’s because DVD is starting to become a serious part of releasing a movie, and Warner Brothers is taking that to the theaters with one of next year’s most anticipated releases Watchmen.

We already knew the studio had approved Zach Snyder creating some direct to DVD content in the form of Tales of the Black Freighter, a sub-story from a comic book within the Watchmen world with a parallel story structure to the main events. The sub-story didn’t work in adapting the comic for the movies, but Snyder knew fans would want to see it in some sort, so he’s creating a manga style animated version to appear on the DVD.

Now it turns out the plans for Black Freighter are a little different than what we originally heard. The plan is to release the Black Freighter DVD along with a Watchmen making-of DVD just five days after Watchmen hits theaters. Now, instead of just being supplementary material on a special edition DVD, this is its own DVD release that will supplement the theatrical release.

This all has to do with continuing DVD as a viable format according to Warner Brothers Home Video president Ron Sanders, who told The New York Times “There is a fear that if the DVD category declines over time that any well-run retailer is going to re-evaluate its commitment. We are offering retailers a meaningful opportunity to be involved with the theatrical event, to have a product that will generate foot traffic and sales.”

Of course, this means Watchmen may quickly turn into one of the most abusive DVD releases of all time. First you get the supplementary material to go along with the main theatrical release. Then you’ll get a standard Watchmen DVD release about four months later, and finally an “ultimate edition” which will insert Black Freighter into the feature film.

This is an interesting strategy Warner Brothers is taking, although I fear announcing that “ultimate edition” right now may cause the whole thing to backfire on them. How many people will dish out for the simple Tales or Watchmen DVDs when they know they can get it inserted into the movie in just a few months? Then again, it always amazes me the lengths fandom will go to in order to collect everything they can. Perhaps Warner Brothers has picked the right movie to test this strategy out.

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