Where am I?

HOME
  • COMMENT Blogs Blockbuster Buzz

Blockbuster Buzz - Times Online - WBLG

Rumours, gossip, trailers and more from the world of blockbuster movies

« James Cameron talks up Avatar | All Posts | Branagh looking more certain for Thor »

October 17, 2008

The rise and rise of Watchmen

Underthehood

Booksellers across Britain and the US are reporting a dramatic uptick in the sales of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s groundbreaking 1985 comic book series Watchmen.

The graph above was given to me by the very kind people at Amazon UK and represents their sales of the Watchmen trade paperback over the last year. The surge starts in early July, around the time that the gloriously exciting trailer for Zack Snyder’s big screen adaptation of the 23-year-old comic book was released.

 In my view, the only real obstacle (apart from the acrimonious court case between the two rival studios who both believe they owned the rights to the story) to the Watchmen movie’s success was that film audiences unfamiliar with the source material might struggle to grasp the slippery concept of a superhero-driven science fiction movie set not in the future, or even in the present, but in a parallel universe a quarter of a century ago.

With the comic book that many commentators - like TV favourite and self-confessed comics geek Jonathan Ross - have hailed as the best of its kind finally making its way to the top of the bestseller lists the number of people who don’t understand the story’s setting is getting smaller and smaller.

Watchmen was always going to be one of the most talked-about films of 2009. Now there’s every chance that it might be the biggest, too.


See the Watchmen image gallery - including some previously unseen sketches, here

Posted at 09:55 AM in Opinion, Sci Fi, Watchmen | Permalink Bookmark and Share

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451586c69e20105358be823970b

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The rise and rise of Watchmen:

Comments

Post a comment

    • Michael Moran

      Michael Moran

      Michael Moran writes, mainly on popular culture, for Times Online and owns DVDs of more comic book movie adaptations than any grown man should admit to

      Follow Michael on Facebook

      Follow the Blockbuster Buzz on Twitter

      Latest Posts

      Latest Comments

      You might also like...

    • Internet Movie Database
    • Rotten Tomatoes
    • Roger Ebert
    • hollywood.com
    • Variety
    • Dark Horizons
    • Coming Soon
    • Movie Mistakes
    • Box Office Mojo
    • Hollywood Reporter
    • Screenrant
    • Online Surveys & Market Research

      The Foyer

    • News
    • Interesting Links
    • Opinion
    • Rumour Mill
    • Trailer Park
    • Hot Movies

    • Iron Man
    • Watchmen
    • Bond
    • Batman
    • Blockbuster Genres

    • Comic Book Heroes
    • Sci Fi
    • Action
    • Thrillers
    • Horror
    • Chick Flicks
    • More from Times Online...

    • Bollywood News
    • Film
    • Film Reviews
    • Film Trailers
    • Bollywood
    • Oscars
    • Directors