As I mentioned in one of my Watchmen articles yesterday, I’m re-reading the original graphic novel in preparation for the movie’s upcoming release. The one thought that keeps coming to mind as I read it is: how in the world are they going to fit all of this in? The answer is simple: they aren’t, but Zack Snyder is doing his best to keep as much in as he can.

We already know they’ve cut out the Black Freighter sequences that feature a comic within the world of the Watchmen. That will be released separately on DVD, just in time for Watchmen to hit theaters. Snyder told Sci-Fi Wire about a few other cuts that had to be made in order to achieve the film’s final two hour, twenty-five minute running time. These kind of spoil elements of the movie, so if you don’t already know the story of the Watchmen, you might want to head elsewhere now.

The key scene that Snyder regrets losing the most is the death of Hollis Mason, the original Nite Owl, at the hands of Top Knot gang members. With that scene cut, Snyder also had to pull a scene where Dan Dreiberg (the second Nite Owl) and Rorschach bust the skull of a Top Knot gang member who happens to be around when they see the news on the television. He also trimmed down a scene that leads into Mason’s death, which features a phone call between Mason and Sally Jupiter, one of Mason’s former teammates.

Snyder has talked in several interviews about re-inserting the deleted material into a director’s cut of the film, which would clock in almost forty minutes longer than the theatrical cut. That doesn’t even include the version of the movie that will have the Black Freighter sequences placed in the movie as well, which is expected to run almost three and a half hours. Basically, there’s a version of this movie coming out in some form for any Watchmen fan - from the newcomer who will be introduced to these characters through the movie, to the old die-hard who will want to see as close a faithful adaptation as possible.