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Watchmen’s Maximum Movie Mode Could Be The Best Blu-Ray Special Feature Yet

Posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta

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One of my many complaints about Blu-Ray is that the movie studios have yet to embrace the format and create some cool extra features using the new technology. Disney has done it right in the past. The visual commentary of the Pixar discs is amazing. Today I came across this video preview from the Watchmen Director’s Cut Blu-Ray which shows the Maxium Movie Mode, and I have to say — this might be the coolest Blu-ray feature yet.

Director Zack Snyder actually comes on screen and hosts an incredibly indepth look at the film, complete with behind the scenes footage, comic to film comparisons, history timelines, trivia, and much more. From this clip alone, it appears like it could be the best Blu-Ray feature I’ve seen thus far, offering a lot more than the usual audio or visual commentary tracks. Now if Warner Bros would quit producing those worthless Blu-ray mini-books, and instead start creating more special features like this for their future releases… Watch a video preview after the jump.

Watchmen hits Blu-Ray on July 21st 2009. You can order the Director’s Cut on Amazon for around $23 (the suggested retail price is $35.99).

Comments

Andrew

Europeans such as myself wont be getting any of that...

Ryz

We actually are if u get Blu-ray

Andy

We're not getting the Director's Cut. I really hope the Director's Cut is region free (it's Warner bros, so there's a good chance it will be).

Captain Awesome

Very nice. This actually looks like something worth while to watch. Most times like you said its throw-away stuff and I like hearing directors explain what and why they did things for their films.

jank

holy hell that's an awesome feature. i was contemplating whether or not i should get it on blu-ray. but this right here just sold it for me.

Eric Eisenberg

Agreed. I've been fighting the blu-ray urge for a while (largely due to my massive DVD collection and only one player that plays blu-ray) but this kind of feature seems pretty much irresistible. Very cool and very well done.

k0rrupt

Wonder if he explains why the make-up looked so strange in the film? Interesting feature, sounds like something that would be on the Region 1 DVD and not the Region 2, we don't usually get your all region 1 stuff in the UK, for instance we don't have the criterion edition of Benjamin Button, just a single disc version.

@DJSilent

Wow this is definitely cool as hell, I really like what people are doing with blu-ray and hope more people actually take the time to do stuff like this. I think its a good tool for directors that give a shit about explaining how why they chose to do certain things

Scott

The keyword is Blu-ray, not DVD. I'm sure this will be on the disc internationally.

quatrecents

We dont actually get the Directors cut here in the UK, just the theatrical one. As such I fear that we'll be missing out on this feature (presuming it ties in directly to the length of the directors cut).

krackajap

I wonder why he calls them gags.

Rob M.

If i'm not mistaken that is stuntman and effects speak.

Matt

I must know if this blu-ray is region encoded!
Anyone know?

Andy

Warner Bros have a tendency to release their discs region free, so I hope they don't make an exception for this film.

twilightsection

All Warner Bros BluRays are region free as far as Im aware. When they shifted to Bluray they said they would continue to make their titles region free. This wont be any different. Gonna wait to pick up the deluxe boxset due in December.

Nazz

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn wish I had a blu ray player. Oh well I guess I'll aquire that version of the movie through thoroughly legal methods.

revolt

Too bad the movie still sucks

JordanFRAV

Very, very cool feature. I liked it how Zack pointed himself out (didn't notice that before), and how he explained...or justified why he wanted to show the entire sequence in the Comedian's apartment in one go, rather than in flashbacks. I don't have a Blu-Ray Player, but if all the Blu-Ray Discs start heading down this road in the future I may just have to pick one up one.

webster1990

All right that's it, I need a Blu-Ray player.

spikeshinizle

To be honest, I don't think it's all that great. Yes the extra content is awesome (behind the scenes footage and stills) but I'd prefer if that just appeared over the actual movie. Do we really need to see Zack Snyder standing in a front of everything?

Captain_Howdy

I agree. Zack, get out the fucking way so I can SEE what you're talking about. Commentaries work... if it aint broke...

Vactor

"Blu-ray" not Blu-Ray

JesseGouldsbury

I was really bummed when that clip ended, haha. This seems like an awesome feature, definitely going to pick this up on Blu-Ray

jason B

ha! i was thinking the exact same thing!

skatalite

That is pretty sweet. I didn't care for the movie a whole lot, considering the changes they made to the storyline, especially at the end of the film. However, the movie is some good eye candy, and this feature would certainly make it all sweeter. Problem is, there's still rumors of an "Ultimate" version coming out around Christmas, where they combine "Watchmen," "Tales of the Black Freighter" and "Under the Hood." I'll likely hold out for that, just in case it happens. If it doesn't, the Director's Cut DVD should be on sale by that time and I'll pick it up.

Teo

Bad decision. There's no technical reason why this feature couldn't also be added to DVD versions.

Azad Taheev Balabanian

ok, that almost convinced me to run and buy a ps3 to watch the rest of it when the bluray comes out

Alex Ball

Just pre ordered my copy :) Roll on 27th of next month!!

jason B

ok...that's just ridiculously cool! peter is 100% right, this is the kind of things that blu-ray needs to be developing. lol that's so badass!

i think this feature absolutely compliments the film and all the extra work snyder & co did.

Andy III

This might be the thing to get me to get a Blu-Ray player.

Looks like a lot of fun. Directors commentaries can be interesting, but letting them intercut all of this other media really looks amazing.

super_aj

woah thats cool. I'm in.

mike yablonski

This is so sick...

Sketch

Being a big fan of all three concepts in this (graphic novel, movie, filmmaking in general), I'm really excited about this. I like seeing how people come to certain points and decisions, and while I may not agree with them when their explained it lessens the blow sometimes rather then when they just do something and hardly have a good reason for it.

Is the Black Freighter mini film going to be included in this or will the release an even bigger set that includes that plus the motion comic version of it?

Colin McConville

It's awesome if its not just for a few scenes. If it is, then it's just another making-of-scene with a cool presentation. Hope it is in place of audio commentary.

theAguilar

Do you need an internet connection with your Blu-Ray player to play this, or is it just included as a special feature? BD Live or what? (Just got my Blu-Ray Player a few days ago. I made the jump to get it just for Watchmen)

Thelvyn

This shot just shows why Snyder will never be nothing more than an average action director. Here in this shot Snyder is supposed to set up the entire aspect of the suspense of the murder mystery in the murder mystery film. Instead Snyder gives away who the killer is, he renders two complex characters into cliches and he turns the murdery mystery into a pointless action film. Well done Snyder, you turned a masterpiece into junk.

GreatBigLion

He never gives away that you-know-who is the killer. That figure could have been anybody. The only reason you made the connection is because you already know the identity. All the non-readers I saw it with had no idea that the killer ended up being you-know-who.

GreatBigLion

I've seen pictures and read about the feature for a couple months, but seeing it in action is stunning. I wish I had Blu-Ray so I could bathe myself in this awesome juice. It's also a bit sucky that the Blu-Ray has featurettes that the DVD doesn't, like Real Super Heroes, Real Vigilantes and Mechanics: Technologies of a Fantastic World. I'll just buy this version and then wait for the Ultimate DVD to see if there's any improvement.

kraftymiles

So with the UK (and presumably European) release cut short by 20 minutes, but with a digital copy for iPod / other PMP thrown in on the Blu ray, does anyone actually know if we are going to get the "Maximum Movie Mode" in the UK?

JeffreyC999

Just thought you might be interested to know that inside the case for the Watchmen Director's Cut is an advertisement for the Watchmen 5-disk Limited Edition DVD coming out in December 2009 (which will only be available to buy up until June 2010).

This dvd includes the cut of the movie with the Black Freighter/Hollis Mason stuff mixed in and with even more footage. It's also going to include a Zack Snyder & Dave Gibbons commentary and the Motion Comic DVD.

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