After a MTV taping, Watchmen director Zack Snyder told the audience some great news: "The director's cut is 3 hours and 10 minutes and comes out [theatrically] in July." This marks the third version of Watchmen, with the theatrical version (running at a paltry 2 hours and 37 minutes) and a Snyder-dubbed "Crazy Ultimate Freaky Edition" DVD of Watchmen.
Announced last December, the "CUFE" DVD will be released this fall and will include the Tales of the Black Freighter animated footage, the death of original Nite Owl Hollis Mason, more dialogue from the newsstand Bernies and Dr. Manhattan on Mars and boasts a 3 hour and 40 minute running time, an extra 30 minutes from the director's cut.
None of the ever-expanding versions of Watchmen will include the original, graphic novel ending, though, Snyder says, the alternative would have been even worse:
When I originally got the script, Adrian [superhero Ozymandias] died at the end. That was the biggest fight for me.
For fanboys who know the graphic novel, that ending would have been sacrilege. However, if fans are still upset about the ending, Snyder says:
The reason why the squid was taken out of the movie was so there'd be more Rorschach, and a little more Manhattan.
Can fanboys live with that? They'll have to try. Until a longer version possibly emerges with a new ending.