10 Lessons Warner Bros. Can Learn From Justice League

With Justice League now playing in theaters, audiences have finally had the chance to see DC's premiere superhero team on the big screen. However, due to the film's (mostly) negative critical reception and disappointing opening box office totals, Warner Brothers still has some tough decisions to make.

Kevin McCasland

Published: Nov 25, 2017 01:40 pm

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4) No More Time Limits/Mandated Run Times

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Whose idea was it to make Justice League the shortest movie in the DCEU catalog? Like much of WB’s decisions for the franchise, it’s undoubtedly money-driven. What they failed to think/care about is how short-changed/rushed much of the film ends up being. I mean, Aquaman’s time in Atlantis (the audience’s first time seeing it in this universe) is limited to one sequence where he basically shows up, talks to Mera about responsibility, then leaves.

Sure, this may allow WB to play the movie more times in theaters, but if you (once again) weaken the overall product, what’s the point? It’s a seemingly never-ending circle of consequences with these films lately. WB cut BvS down to 2 and a half hours because they believed that three hours was simply too long. Yet, the Ultimate Edition comes out on DVD with 30 extra minutes and earned a lot more praise than the “more palatable” theatrical cut. With Justice League also getting a decent amount of its runtime axed, only time will tell if history repeats itself with its home video release.

WB needs to stop putting time limits on these movies. It’s clearly not been working for them as they’ve consistently put out the lesser version of the film in theaters and saved the best version for home video. While it may earn plenty of money overall, Warner Brothers will only frustrate more and more fans with this tactic. If they wish to earn some good faith from the hardcore DC fanbase, then it’d probably be best for them to start putting the BEST version of their film in theaters rather than the one that’ll get more showtimes.