We’re now just under two weeks away from the launch of HBO Max, which marks the latest entrant to the streaming wars in what is becoming an increasingly crowded market. Even without the Coronavirus pandemic decimating economies around the world, there were already few people willing to shell out or even able to afford Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Hulu and Disney Plus all at once, and yet WarnerMedia are still confident that their lineup will be able to convince millions more to open their wallets.
With over 10,000 hours of content available from their diverse back catalogue of movies and TV shows from day one, HBO Max no doubt provides another viable option for those tempted to sign up for another service, but having so many platforms available to choose from will inevitably spread subscriber numbers thinner among the competition, especially with market leaders Netflix and Amazon boasting 283 million customers between them.
However, one ace that the brains behind HBO Max have up their sleeve is the Snyder Cut of Justice League. The speculation surrounding the unfinished version of the DCEU’s all-star effort has never went away, and there have been numerous reports that Zack Snyder could be given the opportunity to finally complete his original vision for the movie should the fledgling service fail to hit initial projections.
We’ve previously heard that the Snyder Cut was very much back in play, and now a new rumor is making the rounds online that claims a full-blown teaser trailer will be released on launch day in order to generate buzz and publicity before the filmmaker’s alternate cut of Justice League becomes available to subscribers soon after.
While the rumor was originally posted on social media and should therefore be taken with more than a few grains of salt, it would make sense that Warner Bros. have been keeping the Snyder Cut in their back pocket with an eye to making it an HBO Max exclusive. After all, Amazon, Netflix and Disney Plus are shelling out hundreds of millions of dollars for new content, and finishing the originally-intended cut of Justice League would only cost a fraction of that amount and cause a massive surge in interest as a result.
