The official 3 hour petition thread

[Bubastis]

As has been mentioned in a brother thread, and WB wants to take scissors to the 3 hour cut of Watchmen. Anybody who has read it knows that the movie should be about 6 hours, but 3 hours will have to do. This movie cannot be shortened.

And as I said before, anybody who knows about the show Jericho or the movie Serenity knows that fans can make a difference. So to start, I am drawing up a petition.
http://www.petitiononline.com/create_petition.html
if anybody has ideas for what to submit for the description or any other fields, please help or submit them. I'm not great at these things.

Also, Comicon is coming up, and somebody should bring the petition there for more signatures.

Guys, we have to try. Please help me out here. We can make a difference. Or at least, we can try.


Don't you see? Somebody has to save the 3 hour cut.....
-Bubastis.

 

[Axtech]

You'll probably get something close to the full 3 hour cut on some version of the DVD release. I'd be shocked if the studio allowed such a long cut into theatres, regardless of anything the fans (who will see the movie and thus create a profit for them whether they keep the full 3 hours or not) might do.

 

[The Battousai]

Snyder has said he wants the DVD Director's Cut to be around 4.5 hours

 

[Bubastis]

You'll probably get something close to the full 3 hour cut on some version of the DVD release. I'd be shocked if the studio allowed such a long cut into theatres, regardless of anything the fans (who will see the movie and thus create a profit for them whether they keep the full 3 hours or not) might do.

You know there were these 3 little movies called the Lord of the Rings which were a big risk being 3 hours long and from a typically R-rated director but they seemed to do just fine (granted, they weren't R rated, but 300 was and that didn't do too bad)

 

[Axtech]

You know there were these 3 little movies called the Lord of the Rings which were a big risk being 3 hours long and from a typically R-rated director but they seemed to do just fine (granted, they weren't R rated, but 300 was and that didn't do too bad)

Yes, and Lord of the Rings has a following that makes the fanbase of Watchmen laughably small. Watchmen is a risky movie for the studio. Yes, it has a following, but as comics go, it pales in popularity compared to, say, Spiderman or Batman. Given the circumstances, the studio will want to make the movie as "watchable" as possible. They don't want to risk people saying the movie is "too long", thus risking reducing further ticket sales.

An online petition set up by a handful of fans isn't going to change the studio's decision. Snyder clearly cares about this project, so he's not likely to cut anything crucial. Just enjoy the theatrical release however it may come, and hold out for the director's cut on DVD, which is sure to be awesome. It's not like we're never going to see what gets cut at this stage of the game.

 

[arman200]

these never usually work, but if you make one I can sign it about three times.

And I am going to comic-con so if you want me to get signatures or whatever. But still, don't expect great results. Unless you can get it into the public eye (with something like DIGG) and get a LOT of signatures, there won't be any results.

Still, worst case scenario: we have to wait a few more months to see the whole thing.

 

[Bubastis]

Yeah, but to the mainstream moviegoing audience, this is all they get. And dumb as they might be, they deserve a better representation of this wonderful novel, am i right?

 

[Bubastis]

An online petition set up by a handful of fans isn't going to change the studio's decision. Snyder clearly cares about this project, so he's not likely to cut anything crucial. Just enjoy the theatrical release however it may come, and hold out for the director's cut on DVD, which is sure to be awesome. It's not like we're never going to see what gets cut at this stage of the game.

Didn't Snyder himself say that it was absolutely impossible to trim the movie any further?

 

[CBGB]

Snyder has said he wants the DVD Director's Cut to be around 4.5 hours

Is that including the Black Freighter?

 

[JackMercy]

It's not like we're never going to see what gets cut at this stage of the game.

Oh I don't know...nothing is guaranteed...

Just to play devil's advocate...

There's a certain studio sitting on a certain notable sequence from a certain big budget film from a couple of years back...one you may be familiar with...

...and that particular sequence still hasn't seen the light of day...

...and the more time that goes by, the less likely it becomes...


Just sayin'...

 

[CrimsonMist]

to hell with the 3 hour theatrical cut! I want the full 4 1/2 hour cut in theaters! With an overture and intermission and a nice hardcover booklet about the film! :P

Nah, but really. The comic is epic. The 3 hour cut is epic. The 4 1/2 hour cut is even more epic. The DVD release will be even more epic. As long as the theatrical experience is epic, all shall be well. Face it: Everything about this film right now is epic.

Gimme a long cut of this film. I think the superhero film genre really needs that long, brilliant, defining, epic film. And Watchmen is it.

 

[Bubastis]

Oh I don't know...nothing is guaranteed...

Just to play devil's advocate...

There's a certain studio sitting on a certain notable sequence from a certain big budget film from a couple of years back...one you may be familiar with...

...and that particular sequence still hasn't seen the light of day...

...and the more time that goes by, the less likely it becomes...


Just sayin'...

I don't follow. Spider-Pit sequence?

 

[CBGB]

I don't follow. Spider-Pit sequence?

Yeah, that's my guess too...

 

[JackMercy]

I don't follow. Spider-Pit sequence?

Good guess, but...not what I was referring to!

 

[Scarlet Spider]

I don't follow. Spider-Pit sequence?

Yeah, that's my guess too...

He's referring to the "Return to Krypton" sequence that was cut from Superman Returns.

 

[Antonello Blueberry]

Snyder has said he wants the DVD Director's Cut to be around 4.5 hours

Where? In the recent video interview he said 3 and half hour.

 

[shapeshifter]

ladies and gentlemen I think we are going to have to wait for the dvd for the best cut of this movie. the movie going population sat through hours of lord of the rings on name recognition alone, but watchmen does not have that kind of stroke..... yet.

 

[Bubastis]

We'll see the DVD but the public won't. Watchmen deserves better widespread recognition than that.

 

[The Battousai]

Where? In the recent video interview he said 3 and half hour.

http://www.watchmencomicmovie.com/062508-watchmen-movie-running-time.php

Snyder has already said he is planning a 4hrs 30mins Director’s Cut DVD edition of the movie, so the geeks will be getting their due — but what about the average moviegoer?

 

[Axtech]

We'll see the DVD but the public won't. Watchmen deserves better widespread recognition than that.

If the theatrical cut is too long, the public is less likely to enjoy it or see it. It's one thing for us to sit through 3+ hours of a movie based on material that we all know and love, but that's a lot of movie for someone who's experiencing Watchmen for the first time. You can't force it all down their throats. If people like what they see in the theatrical cut, they'll go buy the full-length DVD anyways. If they don't like it, chances are they wouldn't have liked to sit through the full director's cut in theaters anyways.

 

[The Guard]

I've said it before, I will say it again. WATCHMEN can be done appropriately as a film in under three hours. It's dense and complex, but it's not impossible to fit into that timeframe, and well, and without pacing issues. I doubt the public will care about the Black Freighter elements or the little things that will be cut here and there.

 

[Cinemaman]

If I were a studio principal, I would also cut it to 150-160 mins, because 3 hours movie tend to make less money, because of runtime and a small quantity of available screenings in each theatre.

 

[StorminNorman]

I want this film in theaters to be the best cut for the mainstream.

With DVD's, there is no reason to make a movie that only appeals to fans - they will buy the DVD cut.

 

[Katsuro]

We'll see the DVD but the public won't. Watchmen deserves better widespread recognition than that.

Um... most of the money that movies make these days is from DVD sales and rentals. Lots of people rent DVDs. It all depends on whether the 4.5 hour Director's Cut is released at the same time as the regular one, cuz not as many people go back for stuff like that.

 

[Johann Krauss]

Hopefully they don't cut it