This weekend Watchmen opened across the country to the tune of $55.6 Million.Critics, fanboys, and haters alike are all left wondering if this is a good sign or a bad sign. Where $56 Million is far below Zack Snyder's last film's opening weekend (300, $70 Million), it's opening weekend take puts it as the 6th biggest opening for an R-rated movie ever.

The first article I read about the movie basically dismissed the movie as a flop. And before I started doing any research into the movie's opening weekend, because I haven't seen it "yet", I decided to do a comic where Ted and I were watching it in an empty movie theatre making the oh so clever, same damn "Who watches the Watchmen? Nobody." joke everyone else was making. Then I did this crazy thing called reading and decided the original idea wasn't fair in the least, so I drew up a throwaway filler. You don't have to laugh. Rorshach hates you and Dr. Manhattan is too detached to care.

So here's what I think about the release numbers and idiots calling the movie a flop...
Watchmen isn't as well known as Spiderman or Batman, you can't expect fanboys to carry opening weekend numbers. The movie was rated R; it's completely not a family film that responsible parents can drag their children to. The run time is 2 hours 45 minutes, about twice as long as your typical film release these days. And $56 Million ain't that bad. Given all that, people just need to accept that it's a good release so far.

Now, Watchmen was an expensive film to make. Warner Bros. needs the film to perform well; they need it to stay in the #1 spot for more than one week. But, the film seems to be performing like a horror title. That is to say, the first night was the largest then each day after that the amount the movie brought in has decreased. If this stays true over the rest of the week, it's highly unlikely that it will be #1 next weekend too. **shrugs**

I'd like to go see the film. I didn't read the comic, but the trailers look incredible and the research I've done into the source material leaves me thinking it would speak to me. I've got a couple of problems though. I've got a 1 and half year old, that someone would have to take care of. And Taks and I can't seem to go to a movie for less than $40, which is a bit much for 3 hours of entertainment. So, like a lot of the country right now, I might just have to wait until it comes out on DVD/BluRay in 4 months.

Given that the original Watchmen story is over 20 years old and it is not the standard champy super hero movie I was a little surprised they finally made the film. It has a very complex plot beyond the basic super hero murder mystery that it seemed most people suspected.

I loved it personally because I could follow the story all the way through, but there were people in the theater that I was in that were saying it was boring and didn't make sense. I figure you are going to like it or hate it, there wont be much middle ground.

I went and saw it on opening night, and enjoyed the movie. It definitely wasn't perfect, but I think Snyder got it right.

I enjoyed the movie, and felt that it did hold fairly true to the its origins, but I have to admit that 2 hours and 45 minutes was little long. It would have been fine for watching in my home, but after sitting in a not so comfortable theater seat for 2 hours, I hate to say it, but I wanted to movie to get on with it.

That said, I did feel there were segments that got off plot and honestly distracted people from it. The two people I went with had never even hear of the Watchmen before they saw the first trailer, and their reaction was somewhat like what other had said they heard around them.. people didn't understand the movie, thought it was boring, etc. But at the same time when the film was on plot and moving the story forward they admit they were into it.

I never heard of the original story, and was able to follow everything perfectly, and even caught on to about 2/3 pf the obscure symbolism. Hopwever it is one of those movies where everything doenst make sense until the end, then all the pieces fall togeather beautifully, and you realize what a genius the writer was. It did drag a few spots, but the characters carried it along just well enough that it wasnt tedious between action scenes. I was very happy with it, and even wanna go read the book now to get the 1/3 I didnt understand, heh. Dont expect a happy ending. This movie is raw, mean, and very realistic. An awesome "What-if" scenario.

My only jibe at the movie? It is NOT for kids. at least 2 sex scenes, one explicit, and others implied. Almost as much blood and violence as 300, and no cartoony faking it. Oh, and then there is "Nekkidman and the Glowing Blue Penis!" *Runs away screaming*

Wow, $40 for two to go to the movies? Does that include pop corn and candies or just tickets around where you live?

I watched the movie this weekend, loved it, wife hated it. Then again, she thought the last Batman was just "OK".

I have not read the book but hear there are some drastic differences, all for the better according to what I read, but purist fans may be enlisting an army to back up Alan's Moor's Beard on a boycott. With some purist fans bashing it along with teens not being able to just go in and get a ticket on their own, plus all other things that come with an R film, yea, I can see the movie not performing nowhere near super hero blockbusters.

As for the length, last I heard the movie was 3 hours and a half and the director was struggling to edit it down without sacrificing anything. That should be an interesting director's cut.

On another note: I sort of hope the movie does not become a huge success. The reason being simple: if its a huge success they will want to make a sequel, and a sequel being made would indeed make Alan Moore's Beard go on a killing spree.

Yeah, night time movie used to be $8.00. So that's $16 + snacks + tax. And it's not like we went nuts at the concession stand. A non-huge bag of popcorn, two drinks, and one box of gummi bears or whatever each. Concession stand total was always more than the tickets themselves.

I think now, night time tickets cost $10 each.

My advice to those who enjoyed the movie and have not read the graphic novel is to go out and buy it. It fills in a lot of the "missing" parts. At the end of each of the comics there are also a few pages of various plot material that helps the reader better understand the characters, setting, etc. They give you more info on the original super heroes, a more complete picture of Rorshach, and a sub plot involving the Nite Owls that I was hoping they would put in the movie. I have a feeling it will be in the director's cut. Knowing the full story completes the movie IMO and I am looking forward to seeing the full thing at some point, kinda like the extended LotR DVD movies.

And I agree, going to see a movie sucks these days. The cheapest theather around here was $9. The closer you go to Chicago you are talking $10-12 or more just to walk in the door. A box of candy is at least $2.50 and a small pop/popcorn is at least $7. I could walk into a 7-11 and get the pop, candy, and popcorn for under $3. I remember when I was a kid the whole family could go catch a movie for $20.

I went to see Watchmen on Saturday, and I was a fan of the comic book before hand. So much so that I reread the comic in the week before the release because I wanted to refresh my memory of both the story and the visuals. Overall, I thought it was a very good movie, and a friend that went with me who was never really into comic books thought so as well. For the most part, they kept the imagery the same, to the point that when watching the movie, I could remember specific frames out of the comic, and they were almost identical.

Despite that, there were some things removed, but for the most part I think the things that were removed were removed for understandable reasons. The majority of the story of the Minutemen was told in the montage style opening credits, which is understandable since the story isn't about them, but rather the following generation, and having included it would have convoluted the story. The child reading "Tales of the Black Freighter" and the newstand owner, which in the comic we're used as something of a meta-narrative, was also taken out, and again, not necessary for the movie. A few lines here and there were cut, some that I thought were particularly poignant, but that comes down to opinion. The most important thing to me was that the tone, themes, and metaphors of the original we're kept, and done properly. Even the ending was done the way it should have been, although with a slight difference. Really, the ending is the same, but they way they got to that point was changed slightly.

The only thing that disappointed me slightly, even though I did understand it, was Rorschach. I've seen a lot of people mention the large amount of blood and violence, but the way I saw it the majority of things were toned down a bit, most notably Rorschach. That's not to say I think they did him like Wolverine in the first X-Men movie, I just think they stepped back a bit from the level of brutality that he brought to the table (namely, during his flashbacks, they omitted the cigarette bit, and they changed what he did to the kidnapper with the dogs).

Personally I enjoyed the movie but can see where it is too "deep" for your average person. Overall it basically follows the private side of a super hero if they were real.

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