These days, every big budget comic book movie is met with speculation about the amount of “studio interference” involved in production, but with Justice League, this speculation is augmented by the question of where director Zack Snyder’s work ends, and where the additional material and reshoots of Joss Whedon begins.
This is because Snyder had to depart the project after filming had ended, and Whedon – who had already been working on the script – was drafted in to handle post-production and reshoots. Producer Charles Roven subsequently conceded that the theatrical release consisted of about 15-20% Joss Whedon footage, but we suspect that might be underselling it a bit.
Now, six days on from release, and fans are already petitioning Warner Bros. for a Director’s Cut – that online petition has so far garnered more than 100,000 signatures – while Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa, believes there is enough leftover footage to make a second movie. Perhaps we’ll see Zack Snyder’s version on home video, then? It’s possible, but for now, a number of the director’s deleted scenes have surfaced online.
There are 8 in total and while a few of these leaked out over the weekend, they’ve now been re-uploaded to Google Drive by someone on Reddit for your viewing pleasure and can be seen here. That being said, they probably won’t last too long, given the fact that Warner Bros. has been pulling this stuff down pretty quickly – so be sure to watch them while you still can.
As for whether or not we’ll ever get to see these scenes inserted back into the film, well, we already know that WB screened an early version of Snyder’s cut to test audiences, meaning it does exist. And even if the VFX and score aren’t quite finished, that would surely only require a little more work to get up to scratch for general consumption, right? Presumably, it’d be completed in time for the film’s home video release, following on from the ultimate cut of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and the (much more underwhelming, but still decent) extended edition of Suicide Squad.
Chalk that all up as speculation for now, as the studio has yet to make any kind of official statement on the matter, but with that aforementioned petition only growing bigger and bigger by the day, and demand for a Director’s Cut intensifying, Warner Bros. would be foolish not to release an alternate version of Justice League. Besides, much like the Ultimate Edition of Batman V Superman before it, it’ll open up another stream of revenue for WB. And lord knows the studio needs it now, considering JL may wind up losing $100 million when all is said and done.
