Watchmen BD Live screening set for Comic-Con
PHYSICAL: Fans will be able to interact with director Zack Snyder
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 6/24/2009
JUNE 24 | PHYSICAL: LOS ANGELES—Director Zack Snyder will host a BD Live community screening of his latest film, Watchmen, during Comic-Con on July 25, so people who can’t attend the San Diego event can still take part in his in-depth exploration of the movie.
The Blu-ray Watchmen will have three hours of extra footage.
Warner Home Video's Watchmen will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on July 21.
Consumers who purchase the Blu-ray version, will be able to play it in their Web-enabled player at the same time as the Comic-Con event and interact with Snyder. The July 25 community screening will be part of a Comic-Con night-time session. Event attendees will be able to watch the film, as well as witness Snyder chatting with BD Live fans elsewhere.
Similar to Warner’s The Dark Knight community screening with director Christopher Nolan, Snyder will respond to text questions BD Live users enter through player remotes and/or other devices, such as mobile phones. It’s unclear how Snyder will split his time talking with his live San Diego audience and through text answers to people on BD Live.
Snyder announced the screening at Warner’s lot during a Wednesday media presentation here about the Blu-ray versions of Watchmen and 300: The Complete Experience, which also bows on July 21.
He is a fierce advocate of the format, believing that it generally advances the film over its first theatrical cut.
“It used to be that the cinematic version was like the hardback book and DVD was then your paperback,” said Snyder. “But now things are getting turned on their ear, and the deluxe version is Blu-ray. And the theatrical version is now the paperback book.”
Three hours of extra footage will be inserted into Watchmen on Blu-ray, in the form of the studio’s new immersive bonus feature, ‘Maximum Movie Mode.’ As the feature rolls, viewers will see Snyder step in and narrate the choices he made in making his film, watch characters explain their roles, among other additional material. The goal is for fans to be able to seamlessly toggle between viewing the original feature and the extra details in-movie.
Snyder said he has disliked some films’ addition of bonus features because of the way they can distract viewers from enjoying the main feature.
“This is a revolution in that it helps the process of finding the material that you want to see,” he said.
Currently, Snyder is in pre-production on his Sucker Punch, expected in 2011, and is already mapping out the Blu-ray interactivity for that movie.
He is hopeful that the high-definition format will soon break through as a popular product. Snyder recognizes that it’s now trendy to want to download films onto portable devices, but he believes such digital files can’t provide as deep a well of extra content as Blu-ray.
“I got to think that it’s inevitable,” said Snyder of Blu-ray becoming mainstream. “You can download something. But what does that really add to your experience?”
Snyder also helped present Blu-ray interactivity for 300: The Complete Experience. A highlight is the ability to watch the film in three different tracks, emphasizing either the graphic novel source, Snyder’s perspective or historical elements.
