Watchmen Ending Changed?

Remember that Watchmen test screening I told you about last week? Well it happened, and buzz coming out of the screening has the Watchmen fan community throwing a hissy fit. Before you get nervous, know this - everyone says the film is awesome. However, the fans are upset over how Zack Snyder’s ending varies from that of the one in the graphic novel.

And there really is no way of talking about the ending of a film without spoilers being involved. That said, you have been warned. Story after the jump.

SPOILERS…

Yes, Spoilers…

Skip the rest of the story if you don’t want to know.

A couple of people who attended the screening posted reports on the IMDb message boards, only to have their posts quickly removed. Nothing has been officially confirmed, so PLEASE consider this with a grain of salt for now. According to the reports, the climax of the graphic novel where Veidt releases his squid in New York City, was not in the movie. Instead, Dr. Manhattan and Ozymandias builds a machine that mimics Dr Manhattan’s powers and uses it to set off atomic bomb like explosions in various cities around the world.

The exclusion of the squid is very puzzling, especially considering the numerous reports from a variety of sources that the squid was included in the film. Even cast members have made mention of a beastie in the film’s climax. Who knows, there is always the possibility that Snyder shot multiple endings, although I’m doubtful. The amount of money it would take to film either ending would be substantial. So I doubt Warner Bros would have allowed him to film both.

I’ve talked with a couple of my friends who are fans of the book, and many of them were quick to admit that unleashing the squid was probably not the best way to go. The new ending supposedly works thematically, and isn’t that what is really important? I understand that part of being a fanboy is to expect a big screen adaptation to be an exact replication of what he’s read on paper. I mean, what would fandom be without the constant bickering over the different changes made from book to screen? But is it possible that Snyder could have went for a better ending?

Update: Our friends at Collider have an interview with Kevin Smith, where he talks about having seen Watchmen. Here is his response to the question about if the ending is different:

“It’s a little different. While it is a slight departure, it actually makes sense in the context of the story because it brings the characters back into it. It kind of makes the movie more about them by the end of it because of the switch they made. I would never say that Alan Moore fucked it up or something. I love the ending of the Watchmen comic book, but I think this ending works just as well.”

Thanks to /Film reader Christopher M for the photo above.

Update #2: Apparently Dr. Manhattan wasn’t involved in building the machine. I misunderstood one of the reviews. I have fixed the spoiler text to reflect his non-involvement.

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  • Troll
    I consider myself a comic fan. Too many great comics have been bastardized by Hollywood directors and screenwriters who thought they could do better despite being provided a proven formula for success. It was a tragedy what happened to X-men and the Hulk. But then again, some changes do work. The webslinging in Spiderman and the change of setting in Ironman, just worked. So there are exceptions.

    I must say this is just such a case. The Watchmen universe is a hard enough pill to swallow for the general public. Teleportation and a gigantic artificial alien would have just been too much. Making Doc Manhattan the fallguy makes sense. The world unties then against him. The comedian was made to be an accomplice who was killed because he was too great a security risk. I think this is a case where the plot just works better, at least on the big screen.
  • MaleAlphaThree
    I saw the movie on the Sunday after it came out, and I was definitely pleased. If anyone has seen most, or all, of the other movies based on comics/video games, you will know that movie makers massacre them horribly. What Zack Snyder did was fantastic in comparison to those movies.

    They change the story, they change the feel, they change the characters, and they might change everything else except the name. Sure, he messed up the punchline, but if that is ALL he messed up, I forgive him and I think you should too, especially if you're a hardcore fanboy.
  • yeah i think the comic ending was nice ... when i was 10 years old. but the movie has a more darker feel to it. I think the movie did good by the book. But I did dislike the fact that some details was left out that explained the characters more. But then again that would of took another hour or so of film. So as Hollywood movie I think it did well to explain the story in a short amount of time.

    I have to say the new ending makes more sense to older people. Because the squid would make it too kiddie on film. Basically you guys have to see that movie wasn't bad and was pleasing and got the general point across. other then that stop your b!tching about the ending. I can listed a few movies that never even remotely considered the book. So be happy that it is about 90% spot on people. Otherwise next time you'll get a Starship Troopers version of a comic to movie translation.
  • One who gets laid
    A squid... a giant squid? That shoots lasers from its eyes? Really? Is that what you're mad about? So, so, so lame.
  • AlisonT
    How can you say he's been faithful?! The bits he kept he kept word for word, but to change the ending that much was totally unnecassary and ...i just don't know why he did it! Does anyone know? He must have a speific reason for changing something so drastic! I mean yeah, the alien squid thing was a bit silly and tacky but that's the point! It's a comic for christ sake! If you can't translate that into the film -which he did with almost every other main theme really well - then don't make it! i would really like to find out why he did it but until i do i'll remain dissappointed.
  • Michael L
    Probably he change the ending as it didn't work in the context of the film. The film is dark and gritty and then having an ending like that is going to be odd. The rumour mill suggests that the DVD could well be an extended 210 minute cut and I wouldn't be surprised if they had the alternate ending as well.
  • Michael L
    People are very sad to get so upset about the ending. Live with it, it works in the film, if you don't like it don't go and see the film. The film tries to keep with the spirit of the book, Zack Snyder should be being complemented for bringing such a good film to the screen and the fan boys should give it a chance cause I doubt any other director would have been so faithful to the graphic novel.
  • Conman
    It makes sense because they mention in the end that the Nations are afraid of Dr. Manhatten doing it again if they were to threaten Nuclear War again.
  • ben
    I have to agree with Tenshi. I just saw the film and the ending completely unravels the entire story... I could not believe the stupidity of this oversight!! That's the whole "big joke"!! It's a man-made alien squid monster!!!! hahaha man... such a shame that they spent so much time getting just about everything else "right" and then went ahead and screwed up the punchline!!!!
  • Tenshi
    I don't think they could replace the squid with nukes, particularly since the entire premise of the Watchmen was stopping an atrocity with an even bigger atrocity. If the world is just going to nuke itself, why do exactly that in an effort to stop it? It stops the war, sure, but results in the exact same outcome. Aside from that, do they really think that a bunch of nukes parked on an island is enough to freak the Comedian out? The only reason he's killed is because he talks about what he saw, mainly because he couldn't handle it; a giant man-made squid-monster is decidedly more freaky than some bombs... Changing the ending unravels the entire story from end to beginning.
  • Bradley Thomas
    Yeah, just keep the same ending except a different really alien creature instead of a giant calamari. I loved all of watchmen except for that. Even Alan Moore makes missteps!
  • Rob
    why not just make it some type of weird scary aliens and not an earthly looking "alien" like a giant squid. Same threat same idea just a different appearance. I agree that blaming dr.manhattan would make humans hate more by feeling betrayed by one of us, though he acquired a superpower.
  • Chad Campbell
    OK... in my opinion the squid would be a better ending, but as long as the outcome of the world comin together and all that is there then im fine.
  • Oreally
    I don't understand whats wrong with everyone. Changing the end of the movie so that nukes go off around the world and making it look like its Doc's fault in order to unite the world against him is idiotic. Grander scale? A giant cthulhuian looking creature being teleported into NY sending out psychic waves that convince everyone of an impending alien attack is not a grander scale then some nukes? The whole point of the plan was to unite the world against a foe so that we would forget our differences and work together. Aliens > Doc. Seriously Wtf. Haven'y you seen ID4
  • cabbage
    and then... we find out it was to make doc the bad guy

    pwnt
  • mdm
    Dr. M has only a small part in the books ending.. its not he that makes the sacrifice at the end but Rorshach who everyone hated and who claimed to hate everyone.. "In this I will not compromise,"...... all the others sacrifice their principles, Rorshach sticks to them and Dr. M kills him, and than allows all the other people to be killed for what he deems the greater good. To make Dr. M the martyr or the one who makes the sacrifice at the end changes the entire spirit of the novel. Even if its a "better ending" it'd be like nobody dieing in the Godfather or something.. at some point you're not even telling the same story.
  • ssdjia
    manhattan doest help if you saw the corrections made
  • Kyra
    Looking at this from the perspective of a movie-goer who hasn't read the novel (I've actually read it though), the first thing I think of is Cloverfield when it comes to a giant squid in NYC or Godzilla. I know WM came before any of the NYC monster cliches but ignorance is a dominant trait. This is a tough one, I honestly love Watchmen enough that if 95% of the movie was awesome like the novel then the ending is changed, oh well. It would still be worth it to see.
  • dollarbill
    the whole point of the ending is that the world comes together around an EXTERNAL threat. If the final disaster comes from any country on earth, no matter which, it would only escalate the nuclear tension, also, taking out the squid takes out the whole element of veidt's island full of artists and scientists, which i think is absolutely key.
  • jaredocobo yo
    Am I the only person that sees the giant squid is easily still included, just to be used in another sense within the context of the story? It could be used as a set piece or chunk of evidence to establish the rouse that prior said explosions came from an extra terrestrial source, keeping Moore's ending spiritually intact but not having newcomers to watchmen scoff at the admittedly silly squid/psychic bomb ending? Maybe that's just my opinion, either way I guess well all just wait and see. Damn its cold in northern Kentucky.
  • Joshua
    As long as Dr Manhattan doesn't know about it I think it's fine. The whole point of the book is that having a real god in the world (like Dr Manhattan), has broken the world. He has done so much damage to history and diverged the world from our history that Ozymandias must take him out and repair that damage. It is very reminiscent of battle between superman and batman where no matter how powerful that most powerful superhero is, the best human in the world can still beat him. It's a message a the unbeatable power that humanity has to face any obstacle. If you pay close attention to Watchmen to can trace all of the problems that the world has to Dr Manhattans existence.
  • Tipop
    I've noticed a lot of people saying that the ending in the book lacked a global scale to unite the world, saying that it was just a squid and a relatively small detonation in one American city. While it would certainly galvanize America, and probably her allies, it would hardly unite the world against a common enemy.

    I'm a bit baffled at this. Did these people read the story? Maybe they just heard about the ending from someone else, or read it many years ago and have forgotten the *psychic* impact, which WAS global in nature. Psychics all over the world died. Some with just a LITTLE psychic ability went mad, screaming about tentacles and whatnot. Oh, and virtually everyone else suffered nightmares about horrific invaders from another dimension. It wasn't "just an explosion". It was a calculated bit of mental manipulation on a global scale, instilling a deep-seated fear of an alien menace that would require everyone to work together. The explosion and the body was just supporting evidence to back up the psychic impact.
  • Sky
    It doesn't matter that the squid is only in Manhattan..it has a global consequence...basically Ozy fakes first contact with an alien race where just *one* of them takes out Manhattan. It was to unite us as a species against a common extraterrestrial foe. If they use nukes people will just think its another nation on Earth. The idea is that humanity will never come together in peace until we have an outside enemy or problem to deal with...
  • damperobi
    Is it possible that the squid effects are not in this cut of the film,I mean it's still five months away.I hope the novel ending is true it was totally like What? then you keep looking at it with all the people at the concert destroyed by it. I think it gave an unexpected element something never seen, I have seen explosions in every other movie.
  • Chris
    For those of you who are saying "how could you fool Dr. Manhatten, he would know what will happen" obviously missed the point of Dr. Manhatten's powers.

    He sees what will happen. He lives every moment of his life simaltaneously. He knows what will happen, but he can do nothing about it. "We are puppets that are controleld by invisible strings, I just can see the strings."

    It's kind of like the few secoonds before a car wreck, you can see and know what is about to happen, but its still gonna happen.
  • nu frontiersman
    J - a more considered and articulate argument for sure, but I still disagree with you on a few points:

    1) The story of Watchmen is very much the story of mankind's changing perception of Dr Manhattan, and vice versa. Ozymandias' final act is a logical conclusion of the sequence of events he has precipitated in relation to Manhattan, signalling his transformation to an other-worldly, all-powerful entity in the eyes of mankind.

    2) The Comedian makes a point of principle of his indifference to human suffering - he sees life as a sick joke, and death and the punchline. Even so, he is unable to come to terms with the sheer scale of the suffering Ozymandias intends to inflict. His realisation that he has a moral threshold exploses a critical faultline within his character, triggering his actual and ideological breakdown. It's a classic example of the tears of a clown.

    3) It's perfectly conceivable that Ozymandias is not prepared to let Nite Owl and Silk Spectre leave, and that, put in this position, they would defend themselves. This is a purely practical concern on Ozymandias' part. Indeed, you could easily argue that, given the lengths he goes to in Moore's Watchmen, isn't it a peculiarly sentimental decision on his part to let them walk away, entrusted with the secret to end all secrets.
  • J from La
    1) Manhattan IS already god in the story. That's the point. "There is a god and he's American." Adrian outsmarts "god", but in the change Adrian has to use said god's powers to achieve his end instead of using the ingenuity of humanity as he did in the book. This is one of the more noble aspects of Adrian even though it is also caught in the paradox of Adrian inhumane logic as he kills though who help him in making his monster. There are so many important points missed without the squid. It's no wonder the black freighter was taken out if the ending was changed.
    2)But is the new ending appalling enough to make a baby-killing rapist cry? The sheer scope of what Adrian was doing cracked something in the Comedian. Not just the act and it's consequences, but the effort put into the act. Creating an entirely new lifeform, that will kill people in ways much worse than an A-bomb, to pull the biggest prank on humanity in history. THAT is what pushed Blake over the edge.
    3)Adrian cannot die. Dan and Laurie worldviews are shattered and lying on the ground at the end of the story. They are no longer heroes. Dan even says something like, "How can humans make such decisions?". They are no longer sure of what "right" even is any more. It makes no sense for them at that point to deal out judgment. Dan and Laurie collapse into the only things they have left that is solid, each others humanity.
    4) no argument here
  • nu frontiersman
    King of the Juice

    It seems unfair to single you out, given the amount of wild conjecture happening on this thread, but I'm going to, because what you say typifies the way people have latched onto little bits of hearsay and extrapolated it into these sorts of comments.

    1) In being perceived to have imposed his wrath upon the world, Manhattan is elevated to the status of a God, an otherworldly force under whom all humanity is united in subjugation.

    2) The secret the Comedian discovers is that Veidt is assembling a device that can emulate Manhattan's power in this way, and that he plans to do so on a truly appallingly indiscriminate scale.

    3) Your logic is flawed. Why shouldn't Veidt die at the hands of Nite Owl and Silk Spectre, if it was never his intention to let them leave alive. The scret remains intact, to be revealed by Rorschach's diary.

    4) You show your colours, betraying the fact that your paper-thin critique is motivated by a prior negative disposition to the film's director. Finishing by drawing a clumsy comparison with The Dark Knight is the manky olive in your piss martini.

    Why not at least wait until you've seen the movie for yourself before you trash it.
  • King of the Juice
    1) If Manhattan caused all the trouble, wouldn't this just piss Russia off into nuking the US? The US no longer has god on their side, so to speak. And nuclear explosions don't put the universe into perspective for every citizen of the world. When aliens attack Earth, suddenly you feel small, and realize Earth-based conflicts are trivial. Nuclear explosions are man-made, or in this case, former-man made.
    2) Why is the Comedian killed if there is no island for him to discover? Moreover, if there is nothing for him to discover, what relevance does the Black Freighter have? Granted, it does mirror Ozymandias's story in a lot of ways, and the Black Freighter is only a supplemental DVD feature, but who the hell needs it when the author is of no relevance to the story?
    3) I can't find for certain whether or not Ozymandias is killed, but if he is it completely ruins the story. Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, and Dr. Manhattan leave him to live with the consequences of his actions. Manhattans haunting line that "Nothing ever ends Dan" obviously has no place in this now. If he lives, great, except now you've cut the final New Frontiersman scene with the open ending. So Ozymandias gets away with it, and there is no indication that he'll ever be caught. Good work Zak.
    4) This is all just a happier, less ballsy, Hollywood ending. It sounds like he's giving it the more complete, climactic ending that readers were originally hoping for. And he's added more explosions. What do you expect from the guy who made 300? He probably thinks more shit getting blown up is an artistic achievement. Fuck this guy. He's no better than Michael Bay if that's the case. And does the idea of pinning a major crime on the hero, leading him into exile, sound familiar to anyone else? Some other major comic-book film used that ending, I believe, once already.
  • Callum
    I never really liked the squid. Thought it just made the end a bit silly. It was like cool we have this whole ultra realistic super hero story but then an alien? To be honest it felt like a nuke the fridge to me.
  • Dee
    THe problem with no alien is that there would not be the "shock" of the original story: it is unbelievable that Veidt would do as he says he does, and when the reader sees this, she is shocked. A "more believable" story with nuclear explosions would be an incredible change and would be a clear departure from the intention of the text. THe fact that an alien is used creates something far more disturbing than a barrage of missles hitting someone's backyard--which is horrbile enough to think about. But that is the point: Watchmen is a step beyond the "normal."
  • anon
    This new ending makes no sense. They'd have to rewrite the entire plot to make it work. What did the Comedian see that got him killed? Why drive Dr. M. away? How would Dr. M. nuking everyone be better than the powers nuking each other? How would it bring the world together? Why would Dr. M. agree to keep the plot a secret? There are so many connections that depend on Ozymandias' specific plan that the story falls flat if you try to change it in such a way. I don't care what form it takes precisely but it has to be some sort of fake alien invasion for everything to work.
  • J from LA
    I've posted this in other forums and I'll post it
    here too.
    Would the finding out about the Doc plot make
    a baby killing rapist cry?
    If the question to that answer is no then the new
    ending FAILS.
  • S!m0n
    Let's forget for a moment the "climax" of the feature and step back to realize what made the original moore/gibbons novel monumental, that being the execution of detail and resonance to homage the social temperament of the times, most of which, short of Nixon, still apply today. Nixons dead, praise allah.
  • If this is indeed the ending I don't have too much of a problem with it. The biggest thing about the Watchmen ending is the Superheroes, or in this case the 'Good Guys' don't really save anyone, and nothing really Superheroic happens.

    As long as that remains I think Watchmen will keep its premise and hang together really well.

    This movie is going to fool a lot of people thinking its a superhero movie, and then seeing no real superhero stuff happening. Lets face it Watchmen is the least superhero, superhero comic book written.
  • Solo500
    I feel that there ought to have been multiple squid in various cities. Also, they could each be speaking the "wrong languge" as they died, thus not only unifying humanity in the face of this worldwide peril (pace the original Watchmen comic) but also an hommage to Batman 1966, perhaps the finest motion picture based on the sequential art form.

    Each squid's face would preferably be caricatures of Alan Moore saying "this is rubbish".
  • Captain Awesome
    lol .. I ejaculated on my pants reading abt the ending!
  • CaptainAwesome
    Yaeh dlb ... rock on!
  • dlb
    @ Captain Awesome

    yes fuck yes
  • Oscar
    Ok, but is it still attributed to Aliens to the rest of the world outside of the main characters in the book? Because that's kind of the point of what Ozzy was doing. How do you stop the most powerful nations from destroying the world? Make them believe they have a far greater common enemy.
  • Adam
    Well the ending in the Graphic Novel was great, but this ending
    gives the movie a better pace, so long as it retains the theme of
    the comic, all is well.

    Although, according to CBR, there IS a different ending:

    "WATCHING THE ENDING
    There have been repeated reports circulating the net regarding the ending of Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen" movie that the ending has been radically changed from the original. We’re not talking everyone wearing Rorschach’s mask or anything, but the perceived and bizarre extra-world threat of a pan dimensional Cthulhu god alien landing on New York killing millions is gone.

    Or has it?

    I understand that the ending people have been seeing is just one possible filmed ending. That the movie’s FX farm has already created big squid effects. And that there will be more than one ending of the film tested before general release. Expect to see all of them in the two/three disc DVD"


    from-http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18501
  • SarahLynne
    I don't really care how they end it, as long as Ozymandias still says 'I did it 30 minutes ago.' That's really all the epic I need.
  • Wall•E Plays Pong
    @the alien-vagina-squid idea (warning: this post gets pretty weird):

    Actually plenty of people have brought up the similarities between the squid and its vaginal appearance in the comic as weird as this may seem. It does seem overt enough in appearance to be intentional in the graphic novel, but I haven't heard a quote from Moore or Gibbons about this.

    Let's say Synder did shoot alternative endings: the one with the squid for a surprise in the theatrical release, while the test screenings had Manhattan instead. Manhattan is known for walking around with his junk hanging out in the graphic novel. In a way, you can associate him with male genitalia. He's nude most of the time you see him. (Considering his indifference to humanity and his constantly erect posture, he might as well be seen as a giant blue cock anyway). So if the squid is associated with females and vaginae, and Doctor Manhattan is associated with penises,
    A recent quote by Synder may give a hint that the vaginal looking squid is still in the film;

    "The ending does not puss out, I will assure you of that… Basically, the moral checkmate that's [at] the end of the graphic novel -- to me that's the point of the graphic novel."

    There you have it. Maybe Synder's selective language ("puss out") is hinting at the presence of the squid. Although if the movie is not "pussing out", that could be interpreted as the squid not being incorporated as well, so who knows. But by hiding the real ending from test audiences (commonly associated with female attributes), with the Manhattan ending (associated with male attributes), Synder may be pulling a practical joke equivalent to that of Ozymandias.

    Syndermandias. It's a scary thought. But I'm creeped out enough as it is considering a movie is even being made. The islanders in the graphic novel who were working to create the squid for Veidt were told they were creating an extravagant special effect for a movie. Oh shit. The lines between Watchmen reality and our own are blurring. Doomsday is March 6th, 2009.
  • I Can Not Wait To Watch The Watchmen Motion Picture Adaptation In March of Next Year Two Thousand And Nine. Goodbye.
  • Well said Waffles. Except for the vagina part.
  • WaFFLeS R g00D
    I don't get what some people are saying. Veidt was by all means not a bad guy or a terrorist, he just wanted peace and unification. To build a machine to blow up a bunch of cities with atomic like explosions is stupid. If Ozymandias really wanted that, he wouldn't have bothered with anything and just let the War destroy everything. That's why the Squid was made to keep it on a smaller scale, so unbelievable that it made the world go "oh crap, we gotta get our act together". This new ending, if real, makes no sense at all, less sense than the squid IMO.

    And while we're talking about it, was I the only one that thought the squid looked like a woman spreading her legs, showing her vagina? Craziness.
  • Ghost
    I'm quite ok with that actually. The squid part always seemed a bit weird if you tried to imagine it in person. Considering you're stretching the realms of reality as it is, that's an even bigger stretch. This works I think, almost like Heroes did.
  • Mike Panzer
    perhaps the ending will be like The Dark Knight, in that to unite Gotham City, Batman had to be the hero they needed him to be, and so he allowed everyone to unite AGAINST him.

    Maybe the morale will follow the same lines, with it appearing that Dr. Manhatten is attacking the world, and thus the human race will team up to try to hunt out Dr. Manhatten.

    Just my 2cents


    PS: The Lord of the Ring movies made some huge changes to the story (remember in the book Aragorn knew he was the King and kind of an asshole), which ended up working out great.
  • Chris
    If Doc Manhattan is willing to let himself be framed for the explosions to save humanity from itself, then why wouldn't he simply destroy all nukes or force the superpowers to stop fighting. He doesn't care enough to do any of it. It doesn't make sense to me, but maybe they'll explain it.
  • Wall•E Plays Pong
    Oh this is a real letdown if true. I agree with Jessie M.'s points and would emphasize the sheer horrific nature of the squid at the conclusion of Watchmen. At least include a monster/alien.

    There was a massive sense of surreal, incomprehensible genocide at the end of the book, something so "out there" and bizarre that it helped explain why two superpowers would join forces together. The U.S. and U.S.S.R. stopped fighting each other because they had to first figure out who was fighting/slaughtering them. The news reports on Veidt's t.v. point out that the reporters don't even know what they're looking at, but understand that an epic tragedy occurred. Instead of seeing each other as two different political states, both superpowers now had to view each other as human beings united against something shockingly foreign. Something even more foreign than a country thousands of miles away, and even more powerful than the greatest superpower.

    Blaming it on Doc. Manhattan may relate to the foreign power idea, and that he's somehow separate from humanity, but after shaking hands with Kennedy and providing massive amounts of technical progress to humanity, why would his actions be shocking enough to cause world peace? Humans had a history with him and could understand him to a degree (even though there are plenty of quotes in Watchmen where characters are unsettled or have a hard time believing a superman exists).

    My point is, the story of Doctor Manhattan snapping and blowing up cities would just depress and anger humanity more than unite them, because it's not shockingly horrific enough. I think a giant alien squid coming out of nowhere and suggesting an impending invasion of unknown scale and horror is a more likely way for humans to unite.

    Someone should mail a journal with the truth behind the Watchmen ending to a newspaper in mock Rorschach fashion to encourage them to disseminate this info by the time of doomsday (Watchmen theatrical release).
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