Who Watches the Watchmen?

In brief: Not nearly enough people...

In its 7th week in release, it sits at the #22 spot.
Total domestic $106,857,000.
Estimated production budget (doesn't account for advertising) of $150,000,000.
(Foreign actually pulled in a pretty healthy $73,263,669 in contrast considering it wasn't expected to perform overseas).The film will be touted as a failure, though it's more of a break even and will, despite a declining market, do some good business on DVD.

I liked it... I enjoyed the film going experience and look forward to a BluRay with director's cut.
Rorschach translated to the screen perfectly. The loss of the squid actually worked better. I am an open minded comic book fan.

So what happened?
Was the source material too niche?
Were audiences turned away by the stylized violence or the blue penis?

I hope studios don't take this film as a "lesson" and try to peddle bad comic book adaptations because hiring someone who actually cares about the source material doesn't seem to pay off at the box office.

Zach Snyder will survive.
Watchmen will be well received on home video (if that term can still be used).
How will daring comic book adaptations fare into the future?

Only Dr. Manhattan knows for sure.