By the way: for what it’s worth, The Hollywood Reporter is predicting that Watchmen will be ” the first real flop of 2009″.

But WATCHMEN isn’t an ordinary property. It is one of the holy geek titles (the only comic book listed on the greatest novels of the 20th century), a film that fanboys have been clamoring for over 20 years. Just skim through any geek site and you’ll see the anticipation is almost orgasmic. In most years, this film would be released in May.

In many years, WATCHMEN would be a huge summer asset to a studio

Going by this Variety review, it looks exactly like a March movie. Unless, that is, you think that blue genitalia, evisceration, paranoia, impending nuclear war, and Richard Nixon are the stuff of summer tent poles…

But the blockbuster season seems to be changing, moving earlier and earlier from the traditional May. In many years, WATCHMEN would be a huge summer asset to a studio, but they seem to finally be learning what the rest of us already know: people see movies all year long. The idea of holding a family film to the summer months when kids are out of school might hold some water, but anything else should be open game. Look at FRIDAY THE 13TH. Without real competition, it made $42 million on opening weekend. For an R-rated remake without any well-known talent (and a franchise that has become a bit of a joke). I predict more and more studios will start realizing that a February to April opening should not be a dumping ground, but a chance to capitalized a relatively bored cinema-going audience.