Feb 4 2010'Watchmen' Spin-Offs, Sequels, Prequels the New Doomsday Scenario
DC, you're making Dr. Manhattans sad. With DC Comics president Paul Levitz stepping down from his seat, the rumor pools are getting murky with the possibility of Watchmen getting the prequels and spin-offs no one, least of all eccentric creator Alan Moore, ever wanted.
Bleeding Cool claims Dan DiDio, SVP-Executive Editor, has taken the dismal idea on as his pet project, and "that he is determined to impress new bosses by building on DC’s biggest selling comic book of all time with multiple prequel comic miniseries and spinoff ongoing projects." And if that happens, the Rorschach: Origins movie will probably be right behind.
Obviously this is a terrible idea, so I say we do something about it: we allow the people who legally control the property do with it as they will, then we get increasingly frustrated by the results as they make massive amounts of money despite our protests, like usual. That's worked so far with everything else.
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Reader Comments
1. Matt-Zilla - February 4, 2010 2:38 PM
no no no fuck no, hollywood already dragged the book through the mud, im all for alan moore writing another book and one focused on rorschach could be hella sweet but please leave the franchise alone
2. ryry - February 4, 2010 2:41 PM
do whatever you want with it, i saw it with four people who'd never heard of the book before i told them it existed
3. Christi Johnson - February 4, 2010 3:12 PM
nooooo don't ruin watchmen for me!
4. jenrock - February 4, 2010 4:34 PM
This is apparently only an untrue rumor and Didio never said that.
5. Crooked - February 4, 2010 4:56 PM
... "then we get increasingly frustrated by the results as they make massive amounts of money despite our protests"...
BoxOfficeMojo.com says Watchmen made $180m at the box office on a $130m production budget. Even with DVD and merchandise sales, would they have made a profit when you factor in what must have been a gargantuan marketing budget?
6. Chaos Hellbound - February 4, 2010 6:33 PM
@1 Well said.
7. JT - February 4, 2010 7:57 PM
Geez people get a life. Just pretend it doesn't exist. Like those Star Wars "prequels." What? Darth Vader was once a whiny little bitch teenager that was having secret sex with Natalie Portman? No....I don't believe you! It can't be true!
8. waka - February 5, 2010 8:14 AM
I have seen the movie and really liked it. Never read the comic/book. I think the writer though, from what I hear, has had problems with movies based off his works in the past. Maybe he should have thought about selling the rights for only one movie. Otherwise, he took the risk...
9. MarsHottentot - February 5, 2010 12:49 PM
I expended way too much energy on lambasting the original films flawed ending. I don't care. It's a movie. Let's see that "Watchmen Babies" cartoon!
10. MarsHottentot - February 5, 2010 12:52 PM
@ #8 -
"Watchmen" was created as 'Work-For-Hire' for DC comics so he had / has no say over what they do with the property as he does not / never has owned the rights and - as far as I know, hasn't made any money of any of the adaptations of his work.
11. frank - February 8, 2010 4:58 AM
@ 10: He was making money, but stopped after From Hell because the Hughes brothers fucked it up so bad he lost faith in film adaptations. He took no credit or money from V or Watchmen, though Dave Gibbons got some moolah.
Aside from being artistically bankrupt, this sounds... well, financially bankrupt. As #5 pointed out, Watchmen didn't do that well, and a big part of its audience were comics fanboys who will give this project a middle finger. This is simply inadvisable.