Comments on: 4 New Watchmen Featurettes

By: greenknight333

greenknight333 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:21:43 +0000

Vic we know the fans of the comics will show up for this opening weekend and it will do big box office on it’s first weekend..I don’t think as much as 300 but box office numbers have been really hard to call this year as the market has been very unpredictable..no one was predicting Paul Blart or Taken making over 100 million dollars and we know how that turned out.Even the best analysts have been way off the mark for a lot of films so far in 2009. Watchmen is a tough one too because some analysts are saying 80 million while others are saying high forties low fifties…I think it will live and die during it’s theatrical run by word of mouth…If it has strong word of mouth it will do north of 200 million easily especially considering it’s release date…March is a very underrated month to release a tentpole but 300 has helped to change that misperception..If it’s a great film I think it will show it in it’s final box office numbers and besides it is going to be a boom for WB when it is released on the home market for DVD & Blu-Ray…Isn’t it going to be re-released in theaters in July as a Director’s Cut too? I think I read that somehwere..Also with several DVD releases soming as well I thik it highly unlikely that WB has anything to lose on this film…I hope I’m not wrong here..

CHeers

By: greenknight333

greenknight333 — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:05:45 +0000

Of course that’s not including international box office but that belongs to another studio..I’ve heard that Watchmen cost 120 million to produce and with a P+A budget of 40-50
million..It will have to make 260-300 million to make a profit..assumimg WB is footing the entire production and P+A budgets..which I highly doubt..Early scores at Rottentomatoes are @ 81% but I am feeling a lot of trepidation from people out there regarding this movie..I hope it kills at the box office!!!

Cheers

By: Vic Holtreman

Vic Holtreman — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 15:58:11 +0000

@greenknight

It had better make a heck of a lot more money than that to even break even.

Vic

By: greenknight333

greenknight333 — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 06:49:17 +0000

ANd I did not take into account that the box office is up in attendance by over 20% this year compared to last year and ticket prices have not changed..I guess Hollywood really is recession proof..

By: greenknight333

greenknight333 — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 06:45:56 +0000

Vic you and I have had this exact discussion for many months now regarding the lack of posts on the Watchmen threads. I think Watchmen will do fine at the box office and I am predicting in the 55-65 million dollar range and finishing with 175-190 million dollars. That’s about on par with what the first X-Men movie did in terms of ticket sales when you take inflation into consideration.I hope my estimates prove to be conservative when all is said and done because the movie does deserve a better fate than to be a box office disappoinment. Especially when you consider what a labour of love it was for everyone involved and how long it has taken for this story to make it to the big screen…

By: Bill Blume

Bill Blume — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 03:17:48 +0000

Vic, I must admit to also having doubts as to how well Watchmen will do. They haven’t done a very good job marketing this film beyond the core audience. Even with the R rating, I don’t think the message is sinking into the general public that this film really is a big deal… and not something for the kids. If you ask me, I think most people see ads for this movie and think, “Oh, it’s another superhero film.” And yes, the Watchmen is a really excellent graphic novel, but I don’t know that it really reaches that many more people beyond the average comic book reader.

If Watchmen is going to make it big at the box office, then I don’t think it will be the opening weekend that does it. To me, it will require word of mouth to keep drawing people into the theater each week. I’ve been scratching my head about the March release date for a while now, and I’m wondering if the studio is hoping to see more people coming to see the film in the following weeks after the buzz really gets out in the mainstream media… targeting a time of the year when there isn’t likely to be as much competition at the box office for a film like this… which would be more likely to face “similar” competition in the summer, blockbuster months. This all depends on the film actually being a great film, of course.

By: Vic Holtreman

Vic Holtreman — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:19:34 +0000

I’m really starting to wonder how Watchmen is going to do at the box office. I look through the articles we’ve written about this film and overall they tend to generate very little discussion.

Not a good sign IMHO.

Vic

By: Psyko

Psyko — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 09:10:13 +0000

*silently curses work under his breath*

Won’t be there opening weekend, but I’ll be seeing this as soon as possible.

I’ll be honest, before these I was looking forward to Watchmen, but not excited (don’t hurt me, I didn’t have access to comics growing up). Now I’m definitely eagerly waiting. It looks like one of those movies that just has perfectly mated story, acting and directing. It doesn’t take a comic buff to appreciate a movie that truly makes fiction into non-fiction. Sounds like this one will.