Roughly a week ago, it was announced that the fabled Snyder Cut – an extended version of 2017’s Justice League – would be coming to HBO Max next year. Now, a new report by Cosmic Book News claims that this cut will cost around $80 million to put together. Compared to the original superhero team-up, which had a budget of about $300 million, this number may seem minuscule. However, considering work on the cut will take place almost exclusively in the editing room, one has to wonder where all that money’s going to.
Ever since Justice League fell flat on its face in front of critics and audiences alike, the most diehard of DCEU fans found comfort in telling themselves that the lack of quality was not intrinsic to the film itself, but the unfortunate result of a mismanaged production, a process which suffered a huge blow when director Zack Snyder suddenly left to deal with the unexpected suicide of his teenage daughter, Autumn.
When the Snyder Cut was officially announced, its director, appearing on a podcast, thanked his fans for their continued support, which he considered vital in making this project possible in the first place. In addition, he also thanked them for raising money for suicide prevention efforts along the way, all in honor of his loss.
But back to the matter at hand: why on earth would the Snyder Cut cost $80 million? Well, according to Cosmic Book News’ Matt McGloin, the fee is proportional to the amount of work that still has to be done. See, the Snyder Cut is not your average edit. Rather than simply shaking up the order of the footage, Snyder and co. will also have to polish up the CGI – some of which, in the original, was average at best and atrocious at worst – as well as introduce new characters like Darkseid and Martian Manhunter.
Of course, this report has yet to be confirmed by any official sources, but whether it’s $80 million or closer to the $30 million we initially heard about, it’s clear that WB will have to shell out a good deal of money to complete the Snyder Cut of Justice League.
