Warner doubles up on Watchmen with DVD premiere
Tales of the Black Freighter to be released four days after big-screen movie
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 5/28/2008
MAY 28 | Warner Premiere will launch its second parallel theatrical and DVD project on March 10 next year, when DVD premiere Tales of the Black Freighter is released just four days after its companion big-screen movie Watchmen bows on March 6.
Tales of the Black Freighter spins-off a scene in Watchmen when a man is reading a comic book.
Tales of the Black Freighter will debut on DVD as a stand-alone animated feature, with extended story lines that couldn’t fit within its theatrical big brother. Black Freighter jumps off from a single scene in Watchmen, where a character is reading a comic book named Black Freighter. The DVD, to be distributed by Warner Home Video, will explore that comic book’s world.
Zach Snyder, writer-director of 300, is directing both Black Freighter and Watchmen.
Warner Premiere’s debut effort in this “parallel” practice is Get Smart: Bruce and Lloyd Out of Control, due on DVD on July 1, shortly after its theatrical counterpart, Steve Carell-starrer Get Smart, unspools on the big screen on June 20.
Going forward, Warner Premiere hopes to release two such theatrical/DVD companions each year. The studio will focus on creating DVDs that help boost films that Warner’s theatrical division has earmarked as future franchises. The DVDs also must feature plots that can be enjoyed whether or not people catch the main features that inspired them.
“We want to make sure that we offer consumers something that is viable in its own right,” Warner Premiere president Diane Nelson said. “It can’t just be another way to put product on shelves. We are going to look at what big event projects are coming out, and what is a legitimate, organic story that can come out of that."
Watchmen has the potential for success, directed by name talent Snyder and based on a popular graphic novel about superheroes. By the time Watchmen rolls out on DVD later in 2009, Warner Premiere is expecting to slip in some content and/or references to its earlier Black Freighter release, further building the entire property at the studio.
Nelson said that creating a DVD sidekick for a theatrical movie also can create beneficial advertising efficiencies.
“We will be working closely with our peers in theatrical marketing, so we can leverage off of their post-opening weekend [ads] with a tag or mention of our project,” said Nelson. “It might say, ‘Go see Watchmen or Get Smart and then come to your local retailer for more fun.’”
Warner also hopes to engage retail more in big theatrical events by giving them something similarly themed in their stores at the same time movies premiere.
“It’s a win, win for studios and the retailers,” said Nelson. “Retailers can also be part of the theatrical event excitement.”
The Black Freighter DVD will include a faux documentary entitled Under the Hood, featuring Watchmen characters getting interviewed in TV news-magazine style.
