Some media research into watchmen

1. By Eden & Libby

2. Production = the director
 The director Zach Snyder was admired
for creating a watchmen movie, it was
viewed by some people as a big
achievement to have made a fill based
upon the popular watchman graphic
novels. This is because many other
directors had struggled to do this for
twenty years.

3. Production = budget &
expenses
Filming was delayed until September 2007, instead
of June. Snyder wanted a $150 million budget, but
Warner bro wanted it to stay under $100 million. In
the end the budget was around $120 million.
Box Office:
Budget:
$130,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend:
$55,214,334 (USA) (8 March 2009) (3611
Screens)
Gross:
 $185,258,983 (Worldwide)

4. production= actors
The producer hoped to gain viewers
because of storyline and the fact it was
based on the comic, not because of the
popularity of the actors.
No actors were a-list celebrities.
The actors were chosen because they
looked like the comic book characters.

5. Production location & special
effects
 The production took place in Vancouver,
where a New York City back lot was built.
Sound stages were used for apartments
and offices while sequences on Mars and
Antarctica were shot against green
screens. Ten visual effects companies,
including Sony Pictures Image works and
Intelligent Creatures, came on board to
work on the film, which ended up having
1,100 shots featuring effects, a quarter of
them being computer-generated imagery.

6. Alan Moore
 He is frequently described as
the best graphic novel writer in
history.
 he worked on big name
characters such as Batman and
Superman substantially
developed the character
Swamp Thing.
 Despite his own personal
objection to them, his books
have provided the basis for a
number of Hollywood films,
including From Hell, The
League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen, V for Vendetta and
Watchmen.
 He believes “Watchmen” is
“inherently unfilmable.”

7. Distributors
This are all the companies which bought rights to distribute the film in their
country, the main two being Warner bros. Pictures and Paramount.
 Bontonfilm (2009) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
 Finnkino (2009) (Finland) (theatrical)
 Paramount Japan (2009) (Japan) (theatrical) (as Paramount Pictures Japan) Warner bro. Pictures
 Paramount Pictures (2009) (Australia) (theatrical)
 Paramount Pictures (2009) (Germany) (theatrical) had America, while
 Paramount Pictures (2009) (France) (theatrical)
 Paramount Pictures (2009) (UK) (theatrical) Paramount had most
 Solar Entertainment (2009) (Philippines) (theatrical)
 United International Pictures (UIP) (2009) (Argentina) (theatrical)
of Europe.
 United International Pictures (UIP) (2009) (Denmark) (theatrical)
 United International Pictures (UIP) (2009) (Greece) (theatrical)
 United International Pictures (UIP) (2009) (Sweden) (theatrical)
 United International Pictures (UIP) (2009) (Singapore) (theatrical)
 Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2009) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
 Village Films (2009) (Greece) (theatrical)
 Warner Bros. Entertainment (2009) (Canada) (theatrical) (as Warner Bros.
Entertainment Canada)
 Warner Bros. Pictures (2009) (USA) (theatrical)
 Argentina Video Home (2009) (Argentina) (DVD)
 Audio Visual Entertainment (2009) (Greece) (DVD)
 Film1 (2010) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)
 Hollydan Works (2010) (Serbia) (DVD)
 Home Box Office (HBO) (2010) (USA) (TV)
 Intercontinental Film Distributors (HK) (2009) (Hong Kong) (all media)
 Nelonen (2012) (Finland) (TV)
 Paramount Home Entertainment Finland (2009) (Finland) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
 Paramount Home Entertainment (2009) (Germany) (DVD)
 Paramount Home Entertainment (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD)
 Paramount Home Entertainment (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
 Paramount Home Entertainment (2009) (Sweden) (DVD)
 Paramount Home Entertainment (2009) (Sweden) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
 RTL Entertainment (2011) (Netherlands) (TV) (RTL5)
 Turner Network Television (TNT) (2011) (USA) (TV)
 Warner Home Video (2009) (USA) (DVD)
 Warner Home Video (2009) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)

8. Sharing the profit
 The film was a big risk for Warner bro.
pictures, this is why they brought in
Paramount, to share the debt.
 They were unsure whether the project
would be successful, and the film mainly
appealed to fans of the comic. So it was
unlikely they’d get new fans.

9. Watchman Trailer
The trailer is one way
they distributed the
film.
trailer

10. There was blogs about it,
Advertisement starting as early as 2007.
Watchmen was featured in
empire more than once.
They even released a prequel comic book series.

11. Merchandise
Figures Watchmen spawned a lot
of merchandise including…
Flask
Clothing
Condoms
Ice cream

12. Distribution problems
 Many problems halted the development, with four
different studios and various directors and
screenwriters being attached to the project through
twenty years. In 2006, Zack Snyder was hired by
Warner Bros. to helm Watchmen. Filming started in
2007, and following deals with two of the previous
companies involved in the development—Paramount
Pictures, responsible for international distribution
rights, and 20th Century Fox, which received the right
to part of the gross—the Watchmen adaptation was
finally released on March 2009.
 A court case was held over distribution rights. Lawyers
for 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros agreed to let a
federal judge decide whether Warner Bros would be
allowed to release "Watchmen.
 Both paramount and warner brothers had stakes in the
watchmen distribution.

13. Distribution
 Fox originally acquired the rights to
Watchmen in the late 80s and spent
more than one million US dollars
developing the project, which later went
to Universal and then Paramount before
Warner Bros, and Legendary Pictures
took over. It was delayed over copyright
disputes, after Warner brothers
produced it but it was judged that 20th
century fox still owned distribution rights.

14. Exhibition
 Watchmen was shown in cinemas
around the world.
 It’s available on DVD, Blu-ray, Netflix
and has been shown on TV.
 Watchmen was shown in imax.
 Watchmen has been pirated.

15. It even been co-opted
Wall-e watchmen
mash up trailer