No one to watch the Watchmen?

Two months into the year 2009, and we have the first prospective Hollywood blockbuster in theatres - Watchmen. Ironically, it could well be first flop of the year. Confused? Not as much as I am.

Watchmen was tauted as the next big thing after The Dark Knight and believed to step up the bar for the super hero genre. Based on the critically acclaimed graphic novel of the same name, Watchmen was once considered unfilmable. Once the news of the movie being made hit shores, the critics were generous with adjectives like "dark", "deep" and "complicated" as they mentioned the name with awe. And that too without even watching the movie. Box office gurus assigned it the status of the money raker of the year. With Zack Snyder at the helm, things couldn't go possibly wrong. His previous movie, 300 was a shock wave blockbuster. Add to that, a promotonal campaign of around $50 million and everyone believed that Watchmen is going to kick up a storm.

But the box office numbers till now are nothing to write home about. A not-so-impressive opening weekend of $55 million and collections dropping significantly with each day, add to the woes of its makers. Considering the fact that a massive $150 million was pumped in to make this juggernaut, it should pick up quickly before losing out to new releases.

The reaons for the dry response couldn't be found by many critics and industry analysts. But there are some common weak links which makes the hyped-up movie a non starter for the average joe movie goer.

Starting off with the comparison to Zack Snyder's previous smash hit, 300. No 6 pack or 8 pack abs here. Admit it, that was one of the selling points of the hard rock-meets-history movie which Snyder put together in 2006 . The statement doesn't imply in any way that 300 wasn't entertaining. It was a bloodbath at its stylish best. The novelty of the visuals was fabulous. Unfortunately that didn't carry forward to the Watchmen. The styling isn't new anymore and hence lacks appeal.

The mere fact of the audience being new to the characters is a strong reason for its slump. Nobody (except for die hard comic book fans) know swho the Watchmen are. Nite Owl? (looks more like a wannabe Batman) Dr. Manhattan? (the only guy who flaunts his abs throughout the movie) The audience is new to these characters and the fanbase being low in number as compared to more popular heroes, Watchmen had to take the beating.

The characters aren't in the usual "good guy-bad guy" modes. They aren't in the current crop of complex heroes too (Hellboy, Batman and Hancock to some extent) . What we are subject to, is a group of unsure characters who are not even properly developed. Snyder was more concerned with the visual style than with giving the characters some space to develop.

The catchline of the graphic novel - "Who watches the watchmen?" - seems to be relevant here, as not so many are watching them right now.

On a personal note, I wished this movie to be one of the top-grossers of 2009. I still wish it makes it out safe. If it breaks even at the box office, that will be totally fine. The makers have tried to put on reel, a movie that was once considered unfilmable. The effort in itself is an acheivement.