No One Is Watching The Watchmen

Variety is reporting that Paramount has officially pulled the plug on Watchmen, putting the comic book adaptation into turnaround over the weekend. Producers Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin were taking the project, with British director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy) attached, out to other studios.

Variety says the film, based on the DC Comics series of the same name, came under heavy scrutiny in the wake of Paramount chief Brad Grey's surprise move to replace Donald De Line with Gail Berman as studio president in late March. De Line found out about the change while in London meeting with Greengrass about Watchmen and the need to cut its budget, rumored to be $100 million.

Paramount had been aiming for a summer start but began releasing crews working on pre-production at that point. The film was previously set up at Universal Pictures.