Never underestimate the power of the internet.
Ever since Justice League was released in 2017 to mixed reviews and lackluster box office earnings, fans have been demanding for a director’s cut of Zack Snyder’s original vision for the film. For those of you that don’t remember, Zack Snyder left production for the film earlier in the year due to a personal tragedy he and his wife Deborah were dealing with. That was when The Avengers writer-director Joss Whedon stepped in to handle reshoots and post-production for the film. The result was a campy, cliché, tonally inconsistent picture that switched between being serious and melodramatic to downright silly and in-cheek.
Whatever you thought of the Justice League movie, it’s clear it wasn’t Zack Snyder’s original vision for the film. Maybe his version would have been better than the theatrical cut – maybe it would have been worse. After all, he did release Batman V. Superman before the film’s release. Regardless, some fans were flustered by the inconsistencies of the theatrical cut and wanted to see Zack Snyder’s version of Justice League. Thus, the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement was born.
For a long time, the Snyder cut seemed like a pipe dream: a hashtag that celebrities like Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, and Ray Fisher could post about and get a few retweets out of. But after he streamed a live watch party of his 2013 hit Man of Steel, Zack made the groundbreaking announcement that the Snyder cut would be released on HBO Max next year. The Snyder cut of Justice League suddenly switched from being a distant impossibility to a very tangible reality.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the project will cost approximately $20-30 million to finish the editing, musical scoring and visual effects for the finalized cut. It would also be released either as a massive four-hour feature-length movie or as a six-part miniseries.
Regardless, fans are finally getting to see their Snyder cut, and Zack Snyder will finally complete his version of Justice League that he’s always dreamed about.
“I always thought it was a thing that in 20 years, maybe somebody would do a documentary and I could lend them the footage, little snippets of a cut no one has ever seen,” Zack told The Hollywood Reporter. “As a family, as a couple, I think we have grown in a way that has made us stronger. We’re doing our best. You really can’t hope for more.”
You can watch Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League on HBO Max in 2021.
– David Dunn
SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter, Variety
DAVID DUNN 