Zack Snyder may no longer be directly involved with Warner Bros.’ DC Extended Universe, which in the wake of Aquaman’s billion-dollar success and the critical praise showered on Shazam! may not be an entirely bad thing, but the filmmaker will always be closely associated with the comic book franchise after directing Man of Steel, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League as well as producing Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad.
Justice League was one of the most troubled productions in recent memory, with Joss Whedon stepping in to replace Snyder in the wake of a family tragedy to oversee heavy re-writes and extensive reshoots that saw the budget soar to $300 million. Whedon was adding so much new material that cameras were still rolling less than two months before the movie hit theaters, which resulted in Henry Cavill’s infamous digitally-removed mustache.
Despite earning $657.9 million worldwide, Justice League failed to meet box office expectations and ultimately resulted in a huge loss for the studio, and in the wake of generally negative reviews, fans were left to wonder what Snyder’s original vision for the movie would have looked like.
The speculation surrounding the ‘Snyder Cut’ has never really went away, with the director confirming in March of this year that his version of the movie does exist, but it’s up to Warner Bros. to decide whether they want to release it or not. The studio recently dropped a trailer for HBO Max, their own in-house streaming service, and the decision to include footage from Justice League has once again got people demanding the release of the ‘Snyder Cut.’
Fans almost immediately began bombarding Warner Media’s social media pages with the hashtag ‘ReleaseTheSnyderCut’ and while the studio has yet to respond, the idea isn’t without merit. Warner Bros. would be smart to capitalize on the buzz surrounding the ‘Snyder Cut’ and as a marketing ploy for the new platform, announcing the filmmaker’s original version of Justice League as an HBO Max exclusive would no doubt generate plenty of attention and likely draw in huge numbers of subscribers.
