Alan Moore’s 1986-1987 limited series comic “Watchmen” is obviously a big game changer in comic books. Arriving the same year as Frank Miller’s 1986 “The Dark Knight Returns,” both heralded a new age of darker, much more mature comic books aimed at adult-level readers. Both signaled a new era in comics, and their influence on the culture is still being felt decades later. Obviously, Christopher Nolan and Matt Reeves’ ‘Batman’ films were highly influenced by “The Dark Knight Returns,” and Zack Snyder already made a relatively faithful version of “Watchmen” for Warner Bros. back in 2009, just one year after 2008’s “Iron Man” launched the Marvel craze.
But iterations of “Watchmen” are not over, and Warner Bros. Animation is making a two-part R-rated animated “Watchmen” film, one part of which will arrive sometime later this year, and the second part will arrive sometime in 2025.
The film was initially announced as an idea in 2017, but at San Diego Comic-Con in 2023, Warner Bros’ made it official and announced intentions to make it were already underway. The trailer and first footage actually premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Market in France this week—which explains all the animated news and trailers this week.
During Annecy, Warner Bros’ presentation confirmed the CG-rendered animated movie would be released in two parts. The official Blu-ray website has Part One set for an August 13, 2024 release date.
Other details are scarce, but presumably, Warner Bros. will also premiere the movie on MAX this summer; there’s been no official word from the studio yet other than the Tweet that revealed the trailer and confirmed the two parts.
All WB says for a synopsis is:
Who watches the Watchmen? Catch Watchmen Chapters I & II, a faithful animated adaptation of the iconic graphic novel! The Clock is Ticking…
“Watchmen” was created by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins. The curmudgeonly Moore has often disavowed all elements of DC or Warners trying to make sequels, spin-offs, or any other “Watchmen” material, and he famously chose to remain uncredited on the Zack Snyder film, which he did not love.
A ”Watchmen” limited series created by Damon Lindelof premiered on HBO in 2019 and was nominated for 26 Primetime Emmy Awards, but again, Moore wanted nothing to do with it.
A dark and dystopian deconstruction of the superhero genre, the story is set in an alternate history of the world in 1985 at the height of the Cold War. Within it, a group of mostly retired American superheroes investigates the murder of one of their own before uncovering an elaborate and deadly conspiracy. At the same time, the complex nature of the circumstances challenges their moral limitations.
The main characters in the story include Adrian Veidt, aka Ozymandias; Daniel Dreiberg, aka Nite Owl II; Edward Blake, aka The Comedian; Dr. Jon Osterman, aka Doctor Manhattan; Laurie Juspeczyk, aka Silk Spectre II, and Walter Joseph Kovacs, aka Rorschach, who features prominently in the trailer.
Watch the new animated “Watchmen” trailer below.
