Where to watch Watchmen (2009)
It can also be rented or bought from AppleTV and Amazon.
In an alternate 1985, costumed vigilantes have been outlawed and their former era is fading. When a masked veteran is murdered, the remaining heroes investigate, uncovering a dangerous conspiracy amid rising nuclear tensions and questions about power, morality, and what it truly means to protect humanity.
Cast: Malin Akerman, Patrick Wilson, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Carla Gugino, Laura Mennell, Matt Frewer, Stephen McHattie, Rob LaBelle, Gary Houston
Rent or Buy
Trivia & production notes
- Watchmen spent nearly two decades in development hell, moving between studios including 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Universal, Revolution Studios, and Paramount before Zack Snyder finally directed it.
- Terry Gilliam was attached to direct an earlier version but abandoned the project after deciding the comic was unfilmable, having only managed to raise $25 million of the $100 million budget needed.
- Paramount Pictures spent $7 million developing their own version of Watchmen before losing the project to Warner Bros., but retained international distribution rights and 25% ownership of the final film.
- Alex Tse rewrote the script to restore the original Cold War setting from the comic, reversing David Hayter's choice to modernize the story to contemporary times.
- Zack Snyder changed the ending to have Doctor Manhattan blamed for nuclear destruction instead of the comic's alien squid because he felt the squid would require 15 minutes of exposition that viewers wouldn't accept.
- The film required 1,100 visual effects shots with a quarter being computer-generated imagery, necessitating the work of ten different effects companies.
- 20th Century Fox filed a lawsuit to block the film's release two weeks before it premiered, but a federal judge ruled the studio had no rights, and the companies settled three weeks later with Fox receiving payment and a percentage of worldwide grosses.
- My Chemical Romance covered Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row" specially for the film's end credits, with Zack Snyder directing the accompanying music video.
- Philip Glass's score from Koyaanisqatsi plays during Doctor Manhattan's reflective scene on Mars, and Mozart's Requiem Introitus concludes the film.
- Alan Moore refused to have his name attached to the film adaptation and stated he had no interest in watching it, despite praising David Hayter's earlier screenplay as the closest anyone could get to the source material.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article Watchmen (2009 film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.
Also available in
This title is listed in these countries too — pick one to see its services and prices.