'Watchmen' to have plenty of life on DVD

Even before "Watchmen" arrived on the big screen, fans couldn't stop chatting on the Internet about the eventual DVD release.

Their interest is justified in this case, because Warner Bros. has some rather unusual DVD plans in place for "Watchmen."

It all starts on March 24, when "Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter" arrives in stores on DVD and Blu-ray disc. This release will contain two stories that were essential components of the graphic novel but had to be cut from Zack Snyder's film adaptation.

"Tales of the Black Freighter" is an animated version of the comic-book story that a child reads on a street corner in the "Watchmen" graphic novel. This story-within-a-story, about a sailor forced to do inhuman things to survive at sea, both mirrors and comments on the larger events depicted in the book. The DVD will also include "Under the Hood," a live-action version of an aging superhero's tell-all autobiography, excerpts of which appeared in the graphic novel to provide important background information.

Snyder, a vocal fan of the "Black Freighter" subplot in the book, co-wrote that material and served as executive producer for both segments on the March 24 DVD.

After this supplementary release will come DVDs for the "Watchmen" film itself, one of which will be a director's cut that runs a little longer than three hours, Snyder has said. The theatrical cut out today clocks in at about 2 hours, 40 minutes.

After that, fans should look for a Snyder mega-version that weaves the "Black Freighter" scenes into the film, Snyder told MTV.com.