Actually, 300 was by no means page by page perfect. All of the story involving Leonidas' wife after the battle started was tacked on, as was all of the politics in Sparta. Some of the enemies the Spartans fought were not in the graphic novel and probably wandered over from the Lord of the Rings set. Leonidas' last thoughts were thoughts not a scream. Lots of things about that movie were messed up. To see a page by page screen translation, check out Sin City.

I'm not sure why so many people think graphic novels have to be made into movies. Watchman may be good; it may suck. This game, though, will likely suck. I cannot wait to play through Dr. Manhattan's self-imposed exile on Mars. That's excitement.

I'm not excited about the game, but the movie on the other hand...

I think it looks good, I could see exactly which panels and parts the trailer took from.

David Hayter: Well, the challenges were immense. In some ways, it was very easy because the story is so good and so well-written and I think so cinematic I just sort of felt like a lot of fanboys felt, which is this is basically a storyboarded movie, it’s ready to go and it’s already better-written than 98 percent of the movies that come out, so in terms of adapting it, it wasn’t that difficult.

It was protecting the integrity of the project from all the different studios we took it to. I had it at four different studios and it would inevitably come down to the same notes, which were “It’s a six-person movie, can we make it about one person?” and “We don’t like all these flashbacks, can we get rid of these flashbacks?” Well, we’re stretching over events that reach for 40 years, so we kind of need the flashbacks, and it’s not about one person, it’s about six people. So, I can write you a movie with no flashbacks and only one main character, but that’s not Watchmen, that’s a different thing, and you’re gonna have to pay me again. So eventually, we would part ways with each successive studio as they lost their nerve to make that movie and what we knew. But the entire time, what it was really going to come down to was a super-hot director coming in off of a huge success so that he couldn’t be messed with and somebody that was a huge fan of the comic book itself.

And like a miracle from the sky, 300 comes out, opens to $70 million in March, of all months, and suddenly, Zack Snyder is this huge director and he’s a massive fan of the material. He came in and was really our white knight. He got it made the way it needed to be made. As far as “Tales of the Black Freighter” goes, it was always my intention to do everything from the book, but with “Tales of the Black Freighter,” you’re really sort of looking at a three-hour movie, and the studios were just not willing to consider that concept. But what we’d always talked about in the past was shooting the movie and shooting the newsstand with the kid reading the comic book and getting all the inserts we would need for that and then if the movie was a big success, then going out and shooting “Tales of the Black Freighter” and then intercutting it for a big DVD release. This was our concept. I can’t tell you what they actually came down to doing, but that’s how I always wanted to do it. It was always my intention, to put everything from Watchmen up onscreen.

http://www.watchmencomicmovie.com/052808-watchmen-script-david-hayter.php

Because of this interview I have faith that hopefully the movie will be awesome.

I know that Alan Moore was quoted as saying somewhere that if there was to be a Watchmen Movie made, he would want David's script for it.

Oh and I did not like Sin City or 300, don't get wrong, the were entertaining... but I hate Frank Miller.

wow.

dawn of the dead remake? IMO it was great.

300 sucked? well, my friends...the source material wasn't that great to begin with. At least Snyder was almost faithful to it.

...and judging Watchmen movie will suck based on a trailer? this is nuts.

If anything you can say that Zack Snyder is a fan of these books. And with that in mind, who better than a person who is a fan of the material, recreate the material.

I LOVED 300, that's right, LOVED it! and even Snyder he added a few ideas here and there I would argue that MOST of them were for the betterment of the movie.

I.E: the politics in Sparta.

Not only did this take us away from the testosterone fueled action for a few needful moments. But also created some grounding or reminder of why the battle is taking place in the first place.

By the way, the LOTR trilogy had a bunch of stuff added (and removed, read: Battle of the Shire) from the original books and no one complains about that shit.

All in all 300 was a pretty faithful adaptation. So if you didn't like it. You probably didn't (wouldn't) like the novel.

All that said, I am CAUTIOUSLY optimistic of the Watchmen Film. While I do have faith in Snyder and his appreciation of the source material, I think the novel is saying too much to work in any film directed by any person, ever. There's just too much to say for a 2 hour movie.

It'll be interesting to see what he removes and what remains of the original story.

Again, cautiously optimistic.

P.s. - Game seems unecessary but I will not pass judgement until i see it.

P.P.S. - Alan Moore is a freakin' genius but needs to suck it up once in a while.

But who will watch The Watchmen?

Horrible fucking game idea. I agree. However, I do think that the Watchmen film will be decent. Not the next Dark Knight or anything, but whatever.

I really appreciate the source material and wish the best for the movie AND game adaptations.

That said, I think a point and click adventure would be more suitable.

300 was awesome, but Watchmen was never meant to be a movie. Because the comic was ground breaking in many ways, such as using cinematic camera angles, didn't revolve around combat, didn't use "WHACK" "BOOM" sound effects, studios went "wow, it's like a movie, now lets turn it into one!". Moore said it will never work as a movie, it was never meant to work as a movie, it can't work as a movie, but Hollywood is going to cram that square peg in the round hole if it kills them.

You do know that Alan Moore is still alive, Rev?

I've never read Watchmen, though I do want to. I think the game idea is dumb, though kind of inevitable. But the trailer for the movie was amazing, and sold me on it. Good grief, does your negativity know no bounds, Anthony?

I don't like the trailer either but the still shots we've been shown look great and it's only the first trailer. Think about it, guys - does Watchmen's storyline sound like something the average moviegoer would want to see? Snyder wants the movie to be three hours long after all, and the director's cut five and a half. This trailer debuted in front of TDK, a movie everybody and their grandmother wanted to see, and they needed to get a crowd-pleasing trailer out, because this story is so damn philosophical and complicated that nobody would want to see it if they just presented it as is. Did they succeed? Judging by the reactions of "Who the hell are these guys?" shouted at the screen when I saw TDK, no. But I can't fault them for trying. They didn't really have a choice.

I'm cautiously optimistic about the movie. The only thing I can really rag on the trailer about is that I hate the Smashing Pumpkins and I hate Rorschach's voice.

i'm with you, Rev. i want to badly to be excited about the Watchmen movie. after seeing the trailer and the promo images for the movie i want so badly to be excited about it. then i started re-reading Watchmen and i just can't imagine all of the subtle details and plot elements that you don't even realize are going on until it all comes together at the end, making it in the final cut of the movie. then i hear about these games and it pretty much seals the deal. now i feel like i'm just sitting back ad waiting for one of my all-time favorite stories to be shit on by Hollywood.

i hope i'm wrong.

Alan Moore is a genius, that's a fact. However, his sentiment against movie adaptations of his work seems to stem from a somewhat similar feeling we gamers have whenever we engage in a "games as art" debate. To call videogames art won't make them any better, nor give them a diferent status: it will only qualify them in the eyes of those non-gamers as something worthwhile. A movie adaptation of Watchmen won't raise or change the perception of the comic, but rather it will introduce it as something worthwhile to those not familiar with comicdom in general.

Alan Moore dislikes Hollywood because he seems to believe that the industry wishes to better his job, or contort it so as to make it palatable for the masses. He has his reasons, and they are perfectly respectable; yet the levels at which he takes his indignancy is often close-minded, and childish. He garners himself more attention by denying to be involved ot mentioned, than by actually being credited.

That said, I am actually excited about the film, as I loved Dawn of the Dead and 300; and consider Watchmen the best literature I have ever read. I want to see the movie out of an infant desire to "see" my heroes in flesh and blood. If the movie sucks, let alone Watchmen ANY adaptation of anything, we will always have the source material to revere and to immerse ourselves into.

Now, the title was quite smart and clever.

Actually, its only right that the trailer is only action scenes, since its aimed mostly at not fans of the book. Those of us worthy enough to have read it by now, will watch the movie anyways since. We all know the story, and characters.

Yes, Watchmen is not about the actions but rather the moral dilemma of the role of a Vigilante and the actual responsabilities it may encompass, but its easier to sell action initially to garner attention, THEN we can talk story.

I believe in Zack Snyder.

To be fair, 300 wasn't a masterwork as a graphic novel either. I mean it was cool and violent but it didn't have nearly the kind of commentary or substance that Watchmen does. And while I am a bit hesitant to say the movie will be good, I do feel that Snyder has more talent as an aspiring director than so many of the greats who have fallen off the map or just aren't on the pulse of what people feel or how things are perceived in the world (Scorsese is just one example).


I guess what I'm saying is to give him his shot at something more meaningful and see what happens.

P.S: Alan Moore is a little too crazy even for hollywood and coddles his own work a little too much. Not always a bad thing but still. And that beard is amazing.