Hrrrrm...

The NY Times writes about the "interesting" approach that Warners is taking with their new movie WATCHMEN:

Faced with a decline in DVD sales, Warner Brothers, part of Time Warner, is planning an unusual effort around its upcoming adaptation of the popular graphic novel “Watchmen.” Directed by Zack Snyder and set for a March 2009 release, the big-budget movie tells the story of a group of retired superheroes who are tied to a conspiracy that could change history.

The twist is that Mr. Snyder, known for turning the Spartan comic book series “300” into a global hit movie, is also directing a separate-but-related picture that Warner plans to distribute exclusively on DVD.

The second film, tentatively called “Tales of the Black Freighter,” follows a side “Watchmen” storyline about a shipwreck and will arrive in stores five days after the main movie rolls out in theaters. The DVD will also include a documentary-style film called “Under the Hood” that will delve into the characters’ backstories.

And then there's some comics guys who just don't get how cool this is, and how we as a comic-reading audience need things like this to happen if comics are to survive.

So let me dissect this a bit:

1. Comic book movie coming out theatrically.
2. D2DVD tie-in movie coming out 5 days later to expand and fulfill the entire story of Watchmen.
3. Doc-style movie providing even more background for the movie.

I personally have always thought that Watchmen shouldn't have been a movie project as there was too much scope in the storytelling - too many parallel stories going on. I've been on the side of an HBO mini-series. This approach by Warners is trying to encompass the entire "Watchmen Universe" and tell the whole story but in separate formats (but still following the elements found in the book).

How is this a bad thing again?