Lots of Watchmen news... release date 09, new poster, Manhatten CGI?

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

Watchmen's panel at the San Diego Comic-Con has been and gone. Here are some of the highlights and new information that has come out of the event...

First off, the above picture is of Malin Akerman and Jackie Earle Haley, two of the stars of the film Zack Snyder was slightly pissed that the cast got leaked early but never-mind. He confirms all the roles we already know about and also interestingly, he named Stephen McHattie as Hollis. I believe this is the first time this has been mentioned and it's an inspired bit of casting. McHattie worked with Snyder in his last film. The movie will be released on 6th March 2009! Wow, I was expecting late 2008 but this should be worth the wait. The movie will be an R-Rated Superhero flick... we haven't seen too many of those in the past! They are building sets in Vancouver and are building a New York city backlot. The more will be more realistic. Think Se7en rather than 300 for the look of the film. BEST NEWS I'VE HEARD SO FAR ON WATCHMEN. Billy Crudrup as Dr. Manhatten will be fully transformed by CGI into Dr. Manhatten. This technique will have similarities to Pirates of the Caribbean. He wants the tricky Pirate Story in the movie but he may not have the budget for it. He says he has the "upmost respect" for the original material though Alan Moore wanted nothing to do with the project. A Comic-Con exclusive poster was also released done in pure Watchmen style...

Thanks to Slash Film and AICN for the info and images. A new website has been setup at http://watchmenmovie.warnerbros.com/ which has a cast listing and promises to have a production blog in the near future.