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'Watchmen' nabs vid game, music deals
March 8 update-Watchmen grossed an estimated $55.7 million for the weekend ending today, which is tops this year for an R-rated film though slighly below expectations.
By Robert Marich
March 6, 2009 – Watchmen opens today at 3,611 theaters – the widest release ever for an R-rated film with slightly more locations than The Matrix Reloaded – bringing with it a slew of electronic game and album soundtrack deals. These are usually more common for films with less restrictive audience classifications.
The apocalyptic film about vigilantes has a big buzz among fanboys because its director Zack Synder thrilled them with Greek historical sword-and-scandal epic 300. But early critic reviews are mixed for Watchmen and the running time is long at 2 hours 40 minutes.
Its music and game tie-ins include:
++ A soundtrack album from Warner Sunset/Reprise Records, which is a separate company from Watchmen distributor Warner Bros. Pictures. A physical CD and digital downloads were available March 3 and a vinyl disc will come out March 17. On March 24, a box set hits stores with seven 7-inch vinyl picture discs, one for each of the Watchmen characters, plus the original Silk Spectre. Artists on the soundtrack include Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Nat King Cole.
++ A mobile phone game is out via GluMobile, which produced five such games for Warner Bros. films. A press release promises “is an intense action game where players fight crime through the streets of NYC and the jungles of Vietnam as the masked vigilantes Nite Owl and The Comedian."
++ A long-form, downloadable video game is available for the Xbox 360 format, PlayStations and PC formats. Says the press release: “Patrick Wilson and Jackie Earle Haley, stars of the upcoming Watchmen film, also lend their voices to the respective roles of Nite Owl and Rorschach in the game titled Watchmen: The End is Nigh."
++ A multiplayer game Watchmen: Justice is Coming goes exclusively to iPhone and iPod Touch.
Watchmen is said to be a $100 million production and has a turbulent back story in making it to the big screen. The rights to the film based on the 1985 comic book bounced around Hollywood for years and Fox disputed Warner’s ownership of the film—which was resolved in an out-of-court settlement with Fox reportedly extracting some economic benefits.
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