Now that we’re in the midst of the summer movie season, it’s a perfect time to start looking towards the big releases for 2009.

And for me at least, one of the biggest is Watchmen.

Looks like Warner Bros is thinking the same, as over the holiday, they released a metric s-ton of information regarding the Zach Synder helmed flick.

Firstly, it’s looking like we’ll be making quite the assgroove in the theater seats, as Synder promises a 3 hour running time, with a 4.5 hour Ultimate cut hitting DVD.

Next up, for the hardcores, Warner Bros is taking quite the risk, releasing a full length animated version of Tales of the Black Freighter (the comic within a comic featured in the graphic novella of Watchmen) a scant 5 days after Watchmen’s March 6th release.  This DVD will also feature a biography on the Watchmen heroes, entitled Under the Cowl, based loosely on the book written by Nite-Owl, also featured in the comic. (Seeing a trend here?)

Lastly, to keep the fanboys drooling, Ain’t It Cool has our first look at the 1940’s version of the Watchmen, called The Minutemen. I’ll let the image speak for itself.

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Hyped? I sure am.  Here’s hoping Zach Synder has indeed pulled off the impossible and made the unfilmable filmable when Watchmen hits theaters this March.

Thanks to AICN, The New York Times, and /film.