Watchmen DVD news
Some time back I blogged excitedly about the different Watchmen DVDs set for release over the second half of 2009, and now finally the edition I've been eagerly anticipating has been, or more correctly, is about to become available in the States. And boy, oh boy, I'm glad I waited to pop my Watchmen DVD cherry with this one! It better be under the Christmas tree come 25 December.
Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut is a comprehensive 5-disc DVD and 4-disc Blu-ray set that contains the following:
Disc 1:
• Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut Film
• Audio Commentary with Zack Snyder and Dave Gibbons
Disc 2: Over 3 Hours of Special Features
• The Phenomenon: The Comic that Changed Comics
• Real Super Heroes, Real Vigilantes
• Mechanics: Technologies of a Fantastic World
• Watchmen: Video Journals
• My Chemical Romance Desolation Row
• Under The Hood
• Story Within A Story: The Books of Watchmen
Disc 3: Digital Copy of the Theatrical Version
Disc 4: Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comics
In simpler terms, the Ultimate Cut of this acclaimed-comic-to-film adaptation contains not only the Director's Cut of the film (with 30 extra minutes of footage not seen at the cinema), but all the additional animated content that was released on separate DVDs. That's Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic and Tales of the Black Freighter. The latter, which was integral to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's comic creation, has, in Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut, been seamlessly integrated into the body of the film, increasing the movie's fidelity to the comic miniseries even further - and pushing the movie's running length past 3 and a half hours of dark and tormented superheroic goodness. Mmmmm, the ultimate treat for Watchmen fans!
Back in late September the press release for Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut stated the DVD and Blu-Ray editions would be released in North America on 3 November - that's yesterday. This date does appear to have changed slightly in the interim, with Amazon.com only releasing the film a week later, on 10 November. That's next Tuesday. This said, the Ultimate Cut DVD is now available to order from Take2.
Now just to clarify a few things:
1) Currently the Watchmen: Ultimate Cut will only be available as a North American Region 1 release. For more on the difference between DVD regions, head here. South Africa, like the whole of Europe, including the United Kingdom, is a Region 2 zone, so unless your DVD player is multi-region or you have a multi-region DVD viewing programme on your PC, you won't be able to watch the Ultimate Cut, which otherwise is quite easy to import.
2) Although I'm scared to state this with 100% certainty lest you take my advice and waste a lot of money, apparently the Blu-ray edition of Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut, although released in North America, will be curiously REGION-FREE. This was apparently also true for the Watchmen Director's Cut on Blu-ray released in the US earlier this year. In other words, if you own a Region 2 Blu-Ray player you will still be able to watch the film. For the record, I am basing this assumption on the fact that both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk do not mention Region locking in terms of either the Blu-ray Director's Cut or Blu-ray Ultimate Cut editions. Customer comments here reaffirm this info.
3) Although I am doubtful that Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut will become available in Region 2 territories, it may still happen. Then again, it may only happen in Blu-ray format. I base this on the fact that the UK is getting a Region 2 version of the Watchmen Director's Cut (Blu-ray only) on 30 November. Again, that will be pretty easy to get hold of... for Blu-ray owners.
4) Just to confirm what Region 2 Watchmen editions are available in South Africa at the moment: The first is a simple 1 disc version of the film (on DVD and Blu-ray) as it was released in cinemas, with limited special features. The second is a 2-disc special edition in a steelbook format (DVD only). This 2-disc DVD is not, however, to be confused with the Director's Cut available in the US for months now. It simply has more special features, and does not include 30 minutes of additional footage.
I hope this information has cleared up some confusion in terms of what's available out there.
Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut is a comprehensive 5-disc DVD and 4-disc Blu-ray set that contains the following:
Disc 1:
• Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut Film
• Audio Commentary with Zack Snyder and Dave Gibbons
Disc 2: Over 3 Hours of Special Features
• The Phenomenon: The Comic that Changed Comics
• Real Super Heroes, Real Vigilantes
• Mechanics: Technologies of a Fantastic World
• Watchmen: Video Journals
• My Chemical Romance Desolation Row
• Under The Hood
• Story Within A Story: The Books of Watchmen
Disc 3: Digital Copy of the Theatrical Version
Disc 4: Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comics
In simpler terms, the Ultimate Cut of this acclaimed-comic-to-film adaptation contains not only the Director's Cut of the film (with 30 extra minutes of footage not seen at the cinema), but all the additional animated content that was released on separate DVDs. That's Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic and Tales of the Black Freighter. The latter, which was integral to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's comic creation, has, in Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut, been seamlessly integrated into the body of the film, increasing the movie's fidelity to the comic miniseries even further - and pushing the movie's running length past 3 and a half hours of dark and tormented superheroic goodness. Mmmmm, the ultimate treat for Watchmen fans!
Back in late September the press release for Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut stated the DVD and Blu-Ray editions would be released in North America on 3 November - that's yesterday. This date does appear to have changed slightly in the interim, with Amazon.com only releasing the film a week later, on 10 November. That's next Tuesday. This said, the Ultimate Cut DVD is now available to order from Take2.
Now just to clarify a few things:
1) Currently the Watchmen: Ultimate Cut will only be available as a North American Region 1 release. For more on the difference between DVD regions, head here. South Africa, like the whole of Europe, including the United Kingdom, is a Region 2 zone, so unless your DVD player is multi-region or you have a multi-region DVD viewing programme on your PC, you won't be able to watch the Ultimate Cut, which otherwise is quite easy to import.
2) Although I'm scared to state this with 100% certainty lest you take my advice and waste a lot of money, apparently the Blu-ray edition of Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut, although released in North America, will be curiously REGION-FREE. This was apparently also true for the Watchmen Director's Cut on Blu-ray released in the US earlier this year. In other words, if you own a Region 2 Blu-Ray player you will still be able to watch the film. For the record, I am basing this assumption on the fact that both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk do not mention Region locking in terms of either the Blu-ray Director's Cut or Blu-ray Ultimate Cut editions. Customer comments here reaffirm this info.
3) Although I am doubtful that Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut will become available in Region 2 territories, it may still happen. Then again, it may only happen in Blu-ray format. I base this on the fact that the UK is getting a Region 2 version of the Watchmen Director's Cut (Blu-ray only) on 30 November. Again, that will be pretty easy to get hold of... for Blu-ray owners.
4) Just to confirm what Region 2 Watchmen editions are available in South Africa at the moment: The first is a simple 1 disc version of the film (on DVD and Blu-ray) as it was released in cinemas, with limited special features. The second is a 2-disc special edition in a steelbook format (DVD only). This 2-disc DVD is not, however, to be confused with the Director's Cut available in the US for months now. It simply has more special features, and does not include 30 minutes of additional footage.
I hope this information has cleared up some confusion in terms of what's available out there.
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