In March 2021 a film many were adamant couldn’t ever exist hit HBO Max. Zack Snyder’s Justice League arrived after years of fan campaigning, charity fundraising, and pressure on Warner Bros. For their passion, fans were roundly mocked by ‘industry insiders’, and told that Snyder’s version of the movie not only would never be released, that it could never be released.
All of which meant some large servings of humble pie were being eaten on March 18, 2021, when the four-hour epic hit streaming, and instantly became a massive hit. It was positively reviewed, was the fourth most-streamed HBO Max movie of 2021, and has now been confirmed to have continued this success by being named as the eighth most in-demand feature film from July 2021 to June 2022.
It’s an impressive feat, especially since it’s by some distance the oldest film on this list, proving that there is still a lot of audience interest in Snyder’s DCEU project. Naturally, fans are thrilled.
Many are still campaigning to #RestoreTheSnyderVerse:
Others are loving cold numbers proving the haters wrong:
Would the Snyder cut have been a box office smash?
And of course, there’s praise for Snyder himself:
Even with this success, it’s unlikely Snyder will return to wrap up his DCEU story. He’s currently working on epic space opera Rebel Moon for Netflix, and Warner Bros. doesn’t seem at all interested in rebuilding bridges with him to get him back.
Then again, once upon a time the prospects of Snyder ever getting to release his cut of Justice League felt like a wild fantasy, so who knows what could eventually happen?
