Warner Bros. has decided to release the Tales of the Black Freighter anime (see “Tales of the Black Freighter Anime”) as a separate DVD only five days after the premiere of the Watchmen movie, according to the New York Times.  Originally planned solely as an extra for the DVD of the movie, Tales of the Black Freighter will now serve not only as a separate SKU, but also as a marketing tool for the theatrical release of the Watchmen film.  The Tales… DVD will also include Under the Hood, a documentary-style film on the characters’ backstories. 

This sets up for an eventual special edition of the Watchmen DVD, in which the Tales of the Black Freighter will be edited into the movie.  Direct Zack Snyder told the Times that the Watchmen movie was already pushing three hours, too long for a theatrical release that includes the Black Freighter storyline. 

Warners is also planning to produce a dozen 22 to 26-minute Webisodes of the Watchmen graphic novel being read by an actor.  That material will also eventually be collected into a DVD, although it's unclear whether it would be sold separately or incorporated into one of the other Watchmen DVD SKUs.