Warner Bros. has wound up a new red-band trailer for its much anticipated Watchmen animated adaptation. The R-rated project will roll out in two parts and feature cel-shaded CG animation. Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment will the movie feature via digital platforms Aug. 13 before it hits Blu-ray on Aug. 27. The second part will be arriving in 2025. Brandon Vietti (Superman: Doomsday, Batman: Death in the Family, Young Justice) is the film’s director and producer. James Krieg and Cindy Rago are also producers. Larry Gordon, Lloyd Levin and Sam Register are executive producers.
Described by WB as “a faithful animated adaptation of the iconic graphic novel,” Watchmen brings to screens a world created by the British and 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).
The voice cast includes Matthew Ryhs as Dan Dreiberg and Nite Owl, Katee Sackhoff as Laurie Juspeczyk and Silk Spectre, Titus Welliver as Rorschach and Walter Kovacs, and Michael Cerveris as Jonathan Osterman and Dr. Manhattan. Troy Baker, Adrienne Barbeau, Corey Burton, Jeffrey Combs, Kelly Hu and Phil LaMarr round up the rest of the cast.
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.
