Zack Snyder Watch: Watchmen Director's Cut, Sucker Punch And 300 Follow-Up

Zack Snyder did promotion yesterday for the Blu-Ray release of Watchmen, and quite a few small tidbits of news came out of his various interviews. He talked about the theatrical release of the Watchmen Director's Cut, which will hit four theatres, the future of his next film Sucker Punch, a possible follow-up to 300 and more.

First up is the theatrical re-release of the Watchmen Director's Cut, which runs twenty-five minutes longer than the theatrical cut, according to Variety. It will hit Los Angeles and New York, as expected, and also Dallas and Minneapolis. Why those cities? Good question, but I'd guess it has to do with market research about where the film best performed originally. July 17 is the release date, which is just a few days before the same cut hits Blu-Ray on July 21.

And on July 25, Snyder will host a 'BD Live' presentation of the film at Comic Con. Using the 'BD Live' feature on the disc, Blu-Ray owners will be able to watch the feature film and Snyder's presentation simultaneously. The presentation will be archived for future viewing, as well, according to THR.

Speaking to CHUD about his next film, Sucker Punch, Snyder backed away from previous assertions that it would be rated a hard R, but insisted that given the way they were structuring the film, current PG-13 standards would allow him to do everything he wants to do. "If you can make Taken PG-13, you can make this movie PG-13,' Snyder said. 'That's what I believe. Because it's more fantastic. No one really dies in the movie." OK, which is likely true. As Devin points out in his article, films like the Lord of the Rings series have plenty of fantasy violence that should really merit an R rating, but does not because it isn't aimed at humans or 'real people'. Snyder describes the movie as 'challenging', 'fucking hardcore' and 'dark'. And, indeed, the stuff he describes sounds wild and fantastic in a way that PG-13 could accommodate.

I like fight choreography and I like being able to see what's happening in action. When the girls are fighting, [like] they're on their way to kill a baby dragon, they've killed all of these orc-like creatures and they're entering a door [and] it's this classic, real Navy SEAL style room clearing. They have machine guns but they're fighting mythic creatures, impossible creatures. The hand to hand stuff is all brutal, because Damon [Caro] did all the [fights] in Bourne and it has that vibe to it.

Snyder also talked to ComingSoon about a possible sequel to 300, which would first be created in comic form by original author Frank Miller. "I know for a fact that Frank [Miller] is writing right now," Snyder said, "[he's] drawing away and seems to be knee-deep in it. I think he's going to head back to Greece again and do another reconnaissance." So more green-screen loincloths and shouting, then?

I think we would use the same technology... I don't want it to look too Star Wars-ian... Just from what [Miller] told me, it would be bigger as far as landscape and terrain. We're going to see Athens and the Aegean and other places. There would be an opportunity for bigger visions, though I'd hope for the same aesthetic. The tech we used for '300' was not a revolution. It's basically what the weatherman has. Look, instead of Accuweather it's Sparta... It's going to be the same way, but on crazier steroids.