Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter DVD Details
Last week we reported on the announcement of the Watchmen Motion Comics coming to DVD just a few days before the release of Watchmen in theatres. Now this week, Warner Home Video has revealed the official release date and specs for the animated Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter direct-to-DVD feature. Surprisingly, it will hit stores a few weeks later on Tuesday March 24th, perhaps as a way to sustain interest and encourage repeat viewings of the feature film in theatres.
Tales of the Black Freighter is the story-within-a-story from the Watchmen graphic novel, a pirate adventure that is being read by a kid in New York City that just happens to parallel the events of the Watchmen themselves. This is being told as an animated film narrated by Gerard Butler. Also included on the DVD is Under The Hood, a short live-action/CGI film that retells the autobiography of Hollis Mason (aka Nite Owl).
Extras include:
- Story Within A Story: The Books of Watchmen featurette
- First Look at the Green Lantern
(I’m assuming the Green Lantern thing is for the upcoming animated Green Lantern movie, and it may be the same promo thing that was on the Wonder Woman animated DVD.) Either way, it remains to be seen if this DVD will actually be a worthwhile companion to the movie, or just a lame cash grab. What do you think? Tales of the Black Freighter will be available on DVD and Blu-ray for an SRP of $27.95 and $35.99 respectively.
Comments (3)
I’ve read Watchmen twice, and both times after putting up with half of it, I end up skipping the pirate story.
What can I say, I just find pirates excruciatingly boring and since it was reflecting the actual story, I didn’t care. Other Watchmen enthusiasts say I’m a blasphemer, but whatever. Pirates Schmirates, I won’t watch this.
Posted by Goon on January 31st, 2009I’m guessing the DVD is simply to satiate those Watchmen fans that would be upset if this story wasn’t in the movie. As for the Green Lantern content, I can’t imagine Tales of the Black Freighter is that long, so it’s probably just there to add value to the DVD.
Posted by mrbenning on January 31st, 2009@Goon I don’t know if I’d go as far as say you’re a blasphemer, but you’re definitely missing out. I was hoping for a director’s edition DVD with the Black Freighter cut into the movie, but this is better than nothing.
Posted by Alex on February 4th, 2009Leave a Reply