Director Zack Snyder recently spoke with the New York Times and gave an early indication of what the studio has planned for the film’s release on DVD.

Snyder confirmed that Warner Brothers has some unusual plans for the big-budget film that tells the story of a group of retired superheroes who are tied to a conspiracy that could change history. One of the biggest twists in their marketing campaign is a separate-but-related picture that Snyder is directing and that Warner plans to distribute exclusively on DVD.

The second film, tentatively called Tales of the Black Freighter, follows a side Watchmen storyline about a shipwreck and will arrive in stores five days after the main movie rolls out in theaters. The DVD will also include a documentary-style film called Under the Hood that will delve into the characters’ back stories.

In the article Snyder went on to give more details about the DVD releases:

The “Watchmen” film, Mr. Synder said, will probably generate at least three DVDs: “Tales of the Black Freighter,” followed about four months later by release of “Watchmen” itself, and then an “ultimate” edition in which the two are edited together into one megamovie.

“The überfans of this property are going to go crazy for that,” Mr. Snyder said.

“I thought the ‘Black Freighter’ story would never see the light of day,” he said. “The main picture is nearing three hours long and I know I have a fight on my hands just with that.”

In addition, the studio plans a dozen 22- to 26-minute Webisodes to help make the complex story easier for the uninitiated to digest. Called “The Watchmen Motion Comic,” it will be a panel-by-panel slide show of the graphic novel narrated by an actor.

Snyder went on to say that the webisodes would probably also be combined and released on DVD at a later date as well. He also mentioned that the film is clocking in at almost three hours right now.

The full article is an interesting read. You can head over here to check it out.

If you don’t know much about the movie, it’s based on the groundbreaking graphic novel frrom 1985 about a group of superheroes that you’ve never heard of before. It traces their origins back to the early Depression days and how there were just men (and women) who decided to fight crime vigilante-style.

The story focuses mainly on the second generation of these superheroes, some of which have actually evolved some super powers.

But the photo we have from the film is the group shot of the original heroes, or Minutemen, from the 1940s.

This movie is looking good, although word is that it could clock in around THREE HOURS and have an extended, DVD version at four hours.

Here is the photo below.

The director of the movie, Zack Snyder, put up a contest yesterday that is actually pretty cool if you are into using your home video camera to film stuff.

Basically, you are to make a commercial that will last 15, 30 or 60 seconds based on a packet of assets that you can use in your creation. The movie is set in 1985, so the commercial has to be in 4:3 format and use their advertisers provided.

20 finalists could win $1,000 each, and of course have a chance to be in the movie itself.

You can find out all the rules and info by visiting the film’s YouTube page. If you want to see the rules real quick, watch Snyder on the YouTube video below:

[youtube ZQPva9fGbbk]