Release News

Watchmen BD-Live Commentary, Director’s Cut Theatrical Screening Confirmed (UPDATED)

By brenden ⋅ June 24, 2009 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

A couple of pieces of Watchmen news coming late today.

The first comes from Collider.com, who confirm via an interview with director, Zack Snyder that his longer cut, the one North America will see released on Blu-ray July 21st, will be screening in Los Angeles, New York, Dallas and Minneapolis for the weekend of July 17-19.

Seriously? Four screens? Three days only?! Is this in an effort to promote the Blu-ray and DVD or just to piss off the fans who don’t live in any of these four privileged cities?Perhaps the studio is just being sensitive to all the folks overseas who may never get a chance to see this longer version of the film at all, seeing as how they’re only getting the theatrical cut on home video.

The second bit of news is kind of a rumour. It’s something I overheard at last weeks Warner Home Video press event. One of the reps from the studio was speaking about the special features on the Watchmen Blu-ray and let it slip that Zack Snyder will make available an audio commentary track over BD-Live! I don’t know if this is anything to write home about, seeing as how we’re getting the Maximum Movie Mode with On-Camera Commentary. But extra stuff is extra stuff and I’m all for BD-Live finally delivering the goods!

UPDATE: Blu-ray.com has further details of the Watchmen screenings and BD-LIve features today.

“On July 25, there will be a “Live Community Screening” of the film at the convention, which will be relayed via BD-Live, so owners of the Blu-ray (which comes out on July 21) can watch the film along with Snyder and talk about the film.

Any viewer in North America will be able to watch the movie at the same time as the audience at Comic-Con, see and hear Snyder comment on the movie, and even ask questions. The screening will then be archived and will be available for future viewings.

“Warner Bros. is hoping to use the filmmakers of its movies to produce immersive home movie experiences,” said the studio’s VP high-def market expansion Kris Brown. “We’re lucky to have filmmakers at Warners that believe in that.” “

And regarding the BD-Live features:

“…something new this release offers is a “Director Walk-On” where Snyder will stand before the monitor talking about his favorite moments from the film. According to Joblo, “it feels like Mr. Snyder is right there in your living room.”

As previously announced, other extras include a timeline comparing the alternate history of the Watchmen as opposed to the real world; storyboard comparisons, focus points on a variety of topics and photo galleries.”

Seeing as how all of these features are directly related to the director’s cut of the film, it looks to me like North America is the only continent that will be able to experience them. What a shame.

Tags: BD Live, BD+, Commentary, Director's Cut, Warner, Warner Home Video, Watchmen, Zack Snyder