The Clock Is Ticking…
Warner Bros. Entertainment has launched the first official trailer for its Watchman animated adaptation, having just confirmed at Annecy Festival that the R-Rated project will roll out in two parts and feature cel shaded CG animation. Chapter 1 is due this year, possibly as soon as August, with the second part coming in 2025.
The preview spotlights Rorschach, Ozymandias, Doctor Manhattan, The Comedian and Silk Spectre. Voice cast and creative teams details are to be announced.
Described by WB as “a faithful animated adaptation of the iconic graphic novel,” Watchmen brings to screens a world created by the British comics team of writer Alan Moore (V for Vendetta, Batman: The Killing Joke, From Hell), artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins. The comic was published by DC in 1986-87 before being issued as a single-volume edition, and quickly won critical praise (as well as Hugo Award, which Moore reportedly buried upside down in his garden to use as a bird table).
Watchmen tells an alternate timeline in which superheroes arose in the 1940s and ’60s, changing history in crucial ways. The stories centers on a group of retired superpowered vigilantes are pulled into the investigation of the murder of a government-sponsored superhero — laced throughout with Moore’s political commentary and explorations of moral quandaries.
The title spawned a prequel comics series (Before Watchmen), sequel comics series (Doomsday Clock) and television series sequel on HBO, as well as the live-action 2009 movie directed by Zack Snyder. Moore has notably shunned involvement in any spin-offs or adaptations.
[H/T Heroic Hollywood]
