Recently, Andy Signore posted an article stating that Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League, AKA “The Snyder Cut” will not be heading to HBO Max.
Ever since the film was released, fans of Zack Snyder and his vision have been clamoring to see what he had originally intended for the film. After Snyder left the film following his daughter’s death, Joss Whedon was brought in to finish it. But he ended up completely changing the final product, having scrapped a significant amount of content, rewriting much of the script, and shooting a lot of additional footage – leading to some truly horrendous CGI being used to remove Henry Cavill’s facial hair.
After reaching out to a source at Warner Bros. ourselves, we can confirm that Andy is indeed correct about the current status of The Snyder Cut coming to HBO Max. We were informed that while they could make no official statement regarding its status, there is indeed no deal for them to fund its completion or to release it on HBO Max. This doesn’t automatically spell doom for fans eager to see it (who knows what the future holds), but for now at least, we can confirm that it’s not happening.
The Snyder Cut Joins Superman II
This isn’t the first time Warner Bros. has run into problems behind the scenes on a Superman film – or problems with major reshoots, as the prequel to The Exorcist was completely reshot. In that instance, though, both versions of the film ended up being released just months apart because the original film was completely finished before they scrapped it. Superman II, on the other hand, had some different issues.
Superman II was riddled with behind the scenes drama. After Richard Donner was released from the film due to creative differences with the producers and the studio, Richard Lester was brought in to complete the film. Much like Joss Whedon with Justice League, the script was rewritten, scenes were reshot, and both the first film and the 2nd were modified from Donner’s original vision. In 2001, after digging through archives for footage from the first film for the special edition DVD, several canisters of footage from Superman II were found.
This time is different, though. Snyder has all of his footage. While he’s teased wanting to shoot some additional footage, he doesn’t need to. He just needs to convince WB that it would be worthwhile for them to kick in for whatever he needs to put the finishing touches on the film and release it. It took 26 years for the Donner Cut to come out, but it eventually did.
The biggest obstacle is WB’s current vision for the future of the DCEU, which right now is not clear in the least. It makes complete sense that they’d be unwilling to release what is essentially a completely different film until the current iteration of the DC movie universe is complete. Unlike the BvS Ultimate Cut, Snyder’s Justice League is basically a completely different film. Releasing it now could fracture the audience even more than it already is. As disheartening as it may be for those who are curious to see what could have been, the chance of the Snyder Cut being released anytime in the near future appears to be extremely low.
Further Reading:
Justice League came out in 2017 as the follow-up to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Snyder’s original plan for the DCEU included a 5 movie arc that would tell one whole story, rather than building a cinematic universe like Marvel has done. Studio interference changed those plans and significantly altered Snyder’s vision, causing there to be a lot of confusion surrounding DC’s slate of films.
While there are currently a number of movies that still appear to be set in that universe still to be released, there remains doubt over where Matt Reeves film, The Batman, sits. Is it a standalone film? Is it a prequel to the current films? So far, nobody on the outside of the studio seems to know one way or the other.
There is significant online support for the release of The Snyder Cut, but it’s relatively unclear how much the mainstream audience is actually interested in it. Both BvS and Justice League took a beating from critics but audiences were generally more mixed about their feelings. While I personally was not a fan of Batman V Superman or the version of Justice League that we ended up getting, I’m interested enough that I’d watch The Snyder Cut if it were ever to come out.
Debates about the film are unlikely to end at any point in the near future, as Zack Snyder continues to share new content and keep his fans discussing it. While he’s probably not able to legally just come right out and say whether it’s done or what exactly needs to happen for it to be released, the teases from his camp and the denials from Warner Bros just keep the controversy going. One side needs to break the silence and state once and for all what’s going on to end the debate. It’s all just kind of tiring to keep track of.
What about you guys? What side are you on? Will you watch it if it ever comes out? Are you actively campaigning for it? Could you not care any less one way or the other? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
