A segment to be featured on a companion DVD release to the Watchmen movie has apparently received an “R” rating. According to reports on MTV’s Splash Page, the MPAA has issued the rating for the Tales of the Black Freighter animated feature that is scheduled to be released on a forthcoming Watchmen companion DVD single.

Tales of the Black Freighter is a mini comic that’s plot plays out throughout the entire storyline of the Watchmen comic. In Tales of the Black Freighter, the hero, called The Mariner, is a shipwrecked swashbuckler, who desperately tries to return to his home port before a fleet of pirate ships arrives. The pirates are known for their bloodthirsty acts, many of which are gruesomely portrayed in the comic. For example, the Mariner disposes of the rotting corpses left behind by the villains. Since Watchmen director Zack Snyder has repeatedly promised to make a “true to the original” movie, those scenes are primarily responsible for the segments “R” rating.

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Film production companies in Hollywood sue each other all the time.  Most lawsuits go without notice or interest from the public.  However, every once and awhile a movie that is highly anticipated by the public gets embroiled in one of these lawsuits, and such is the case with the Watchmen movie.

While this is oversimplifying the dispute, Warner Bros. has a completed Watchmen movie ready to be released in theaters on March 6, 2009, but 20th Century Fox believes that it still has rights to the property.  On Christmas Eve, a federal judge in Los Angeles sided with 20th Century Fox and agreed that 20th Century Fox did still have some rights in Watchmen.

Now, according to the Hollywood Reporter, 20th Century Fox is looking to get an injunction to delay the scheduled March 6 release date of the Watchmen movie.  On the other hand, Warner Bros. seems to have no interest in settling and plans to go to trial or to appeal the ruling.  What this spells for comic book fans is that the Watchmen movie release will likely be delayed.

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