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$200-million ‘Watchmen’ a box-office flop; director gets $100 million more to make more dreck

It’s a Hollywood story befitting the times: Bonuses for executives who promote economy-destroying mortgages, more studio cash for a film director who uses bank-breaking budgets to make embarrassing flops. Zack Snyder’s comic-strip opera Watchmen, which reportedly cost $150 million and which Warner Brothers spent $50 million marketing, may, best-case-scenario, earn $115 million by the end of its run. But Snyder has little to worry about: IMDB.com has him directing five films in 2010, including the “much-anticipated” animated film Guardians of Ga’Hoole and Sucker Punch, an R-rated flick said to have a budget of $100 million and the Snyder-esque premise of ‘Alice in Wonderland with machine guns.’ Note to Zack Snyder: Read a book (without pictures).

The Hollywood Blog (NYTimes)

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