“It was insane, like superheroes doing cocaine”: Zack Snyder’s Underrated ‘Watchmen’ Film Doomed ‘The Boys’ From Ever Being Green-Lit on the Big Screen
- Adam McKay’s attempt to adapt 'The Boys' into a movie failed due to comparisons.
- 'Watchmen’s' box office flop made studios wary of bold superhero content.
- However, the streaming success of 'The Boys' suggests a demand for more mature stories.
The Boys’ world is where superheroes indulge in graphic violence unseen in other mainstream comics. This was also the bold idea behind a movie adaptation of Garth Ennis’ intense comic series. Despite years of planning and a committed director, Adam McKay, the movie never got made.
The movie got stuck in Hollywood limbo, and surprisingly, Zack Snyder’s superhero film Watchmen played a role in its downfall. Though The Boys movie never saw the light of day, the show’s success on streaming proves that people love these bold, different stories.
Zack Snyder’s Film Stopped The Boys Movie from Happening
Adam McKay, famous for comedies like Anchorman and The Big Short, had a tough time getting a studio to back his project, The Boys. His frustration stemmed from a recurring comparison: Zack Snyder‘s Watchmen. In a 2015 IndieWire interview, he talked about how this made it harder for him to find support:
I was trying to do Garth Ennis’ ‘The Boys’ at one point, and I took it to every studio, every production financing place in town. And they were always like, ‘No.’ I had this crazy pre-viz reel that I’d done, and it was insane, like superheroes doing cocaine. And they all said, lazily, ‘So it’s like “Watchmen”?’
Feeling frustrated by the lack of interest, the 56-year-old chose to make his pitches even more daring and out-of-the-box. McKay’s remarks about Watchmen are interesting but not surprising. Back in 2009, Snyder’s flick gave a much darker and grown-up spin on comic book heroes.
Despite gaining a fan base, it failed at the box office, earning $185.4 million on a $130 million budget (via Box Office Mojo). This failure made studios hesitant to produce anything labeled “mature” and “superheroes” for years, which also affected the chances of a The Boys movie getting made.
The tepid reaction to Watchmen sent a shiver through Hollywood. Studios grew cautious, avoiding anything too different from the typical superhero formula, worried it might fail like Watchmen. McKay’s The Boys, with its mature themes, violence, and drug use, was just too different from the norm.
The Boys Take Flight (On Television)
Streaming platforms like Amazon and Netflix are getting braver with their picks, giving a shot to unique shows like The Boys. The show’s success shows that people enjoy superhero stories with a more mature edge, which might lead to more R-rated superhero projects down the road. Recently, while speaking to Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Laz Alonso (who plays Marvin T. “MM”, Mother’s Milk) said:
I’ve been unsuccessfully pitching that we end the show with a feature film to Eric [Kripke]. Like, make the last episode of Season 5 the cliffhanger and announce the film that we have been filming since the beginning of the series.
Antony Starr (who plays Homelander) supported the idea, saying, “Okay, I’m down.” When Alonso asked the crowd if they liked his suggestion, they cheered loudly. He joked that everyone should flood Eric Kripke‘s X account with messages and demand the film.
Watch both Watchmen and The Boys on Amazon Prime Video!
