Warner Bros., the studio behind “Watchmen,” is not the only one looking forward to obtaining high results when the production debuts across North America this weekend.

 

The studio’s one-time legal opponent, 20^th Century Fox will also have its fingers crossed for the superhero movie, because it might actually receive up to 8.5% of the flick’s concluding global revenue after reaching a settlement with Warner Bros. following a legal quarrel over who owns the rights to the picture.

 

Moreover, no studio has had the courage to program a wide release to open against the grainy action film, which saw an early start on the weekend with several midnight screening s on Thursday.

 

The picture’s extensive two-hour, 40-minute running time could slightly slow down daily grosses, but surely will not prevent “Watchmen” from claiming $60 million or more through Sunday. In the same way, early reviews have been mixed, but that should not affect fans of the 1980s comics series too much. The production is based on the eponymous comic book series conceived by writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons.

 

The film’s helmer, Zack Snyder, witnessed his previous popular release “300” bring in $71 million throughout its first weekend in theatres in March 2007. Warner Bros. distribution president Dan Fellman explained that result “gives you something to shoot for.” The director also tried to assure fanatic readers of “Watchmen” that he would ne loyal to the original comic book material.

 

The “Watchmen” comic books have an enthusiastic base of fans out there, while the series benefits from a fictitious pedigree as well, since it was named by Time Magazine one of the best 100 English-language novels since 1923.