The buzz is building for director Zach Snyder’s Watchmen adaptation, set to hit theaters March 6 next year. Perhaps the most objective indicator of that is the fact that sales of the graphic novel have increased tenfold just since the trailer debuted last month. According to this article in the New York Times, last year’s sales for Alan Moore’s magnum opus ran about 100,000. This year, the print run will be closer to one million.
And why not? As the comic miniseries that was one of the main instigators for helping comic books become a mature and respectable medium, Watchmen is highly respected and worth reading, so with a film adaptation on the way, it’s sure to pique people’s interest. As they start to read it, word of mouth should do the rest.
However, given the comic’s legendary status, expectations (and reservations) are understandably high, but Snyder is going out of his way to show his commitment to a faithful adaptation. Back in 1986, before the comic came out, DC ran a set of ads within their comics to get people interested. At this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Warner Bros. debuted a set of movie posters identically recreating the original 1986 ads. Newsarama’s got a close look at the original ads here and the new ads here, while ComicBookMovie.com is featuring a side-by-side comparison like the ones below, only with more detail. So basically, check out these links if you want larger versions of what I’ve got posted here.
Oh, and don’t go anywhere. One more surprise after the posters…
Last in this multi-update, a video that G4 put together that’s part set visit, part interviews that shows more of how the movie’s coming together compared to the original comics. Enjoy!
AWESOME! I think I’ll do something altogether unconventional though and read the mini series after the movie. I’ve become all to disappointed in the past when I compare one medium to another. In other words, the book was better than the move and vice-a-verse. So, I’ll wait until after I see the movie, then read the novels that made if famous. Plus, I’ll have a better chance of checking them out at the library after the film is released than I will now. Speaking into the increased interest, I think I would be 20th on the waiting list for the complete works at our local library right now.
Yeah I can tell its popular because I looked at the library website before the trailer came out and there was no waiting list. By the time I actually requested the book I was like #16. Boo.
Luckily, I snagged WATCHMEN from the library in June just before the trailer was released. From the looks of things, it is EXTREMELY (like 99.9%) true to the look of the comic. Snyder did an incredible job with 300 so I think WATCHMEN will be a huge hit.