Justice League: The Snyder Cut

[Metallo]

variety.com/2020/film/news/zack-snyder-release-the-snyder-cut-justice-league-hbo-max-1234611928/amp/

Zack Snyder Will Release the ‘Snyder Cut’ of ‘Justice League’ on HBO Max

By Matt Donnelly
The mythical, unreleased version of the 2017 superhero film “Justice League” will finally see the light of day on Warner Media’s HBO Max in 2021.

After years of campaigning from talent and comic book fans, the studio behind the DC Films ensemble “Justice League” will offer original director Zach Snyder’s cut of the film, which saw heroes Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Cyborg and Superman share the same screen.

Director Zack Snyder announced the news on a live Q&A Wednesday, following a virtual screening of his Henry Cavill-led Superman film “Man of Steel.”

Snyder completed the majority of work on “Justice League” in 2016, but stepped away from post-production and editing in light of a family tragedy. Warner Bros. brought in “The Avengers” helmer Joss Whedon to finish the job, and the varying styles of both men led many fans to believe Snyder had envisioned a much darker take on the project.
Budgeted at a reported $300 million, the film grossed over $650 million worldwide and did not resonate with critics, sitting at 40% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The DC assemblage was largely perceived as a miss in comparison to the juggernaut of Marvel Studios, and led to a creative pivot away from a tightly connected cinematic universe in favor of a far more loosely assembled collection of comic book adaptations.

This includes Todd Phillips’ global smash “Joker,” which won Joaquin Phoenix the best actor Oscar and grossed over $1 billion at the global box office. Ben Affleck has subsequently vacated the batsuit, in favor of Robert Pattinson in an upcoming reboot from director Matt Reeves.

#ReleaseTheSnyderCut became a massive grassroots rallying cry — an example of how fandom can seize hold of a franchise despite all efforts by the studio to control it, especially online. Then in November 2019, “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot kicked the campaign into overdrive by tweeting the hashtag with a grayscale still from “Justice League,” with Affleck and Snyder himself following suit — sending fans into a twitter-fed frenzy. Even Aquaman, Jason Momoa, called for the darker film to drop as recently as May 19, 2020.
Snyder himself admitted that his own cut of the film existed, but the onus was on Warner Bros. to release it. While plans to release the Snyder cut theatrically never took shape, its value for HBO Max is undeniable.

As Warner Media’s own bid at a “Netflix killer,” as many have labelled fledgling OTT services like Disney Plus, global event IP like “Justice League” is invaluable subscriber bait for the platform, which launches May 27.

[Metallo]

www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/justice-league-snyder-cut-plans-revealed-it-will-be-an-new-thing-1295102

"It Will Be an Entirely New Thing": Zack Snyder's $20M-Plus 'Justice League' Cut Plans Revealed

MAY 20, 2020 11:06AM
by Borys Kit

HBO Max will debut the project in 2021 — possibly in a four-hour director's cut or in six TV-style "chapters" — as the helmer gets the gang back together with the original postproduction crew to score, cut and finish visual effects.
It was very early on a Monday morning in November when director Zack Snyder and his wife and producing partner, Deborah Snyder, received a call from their agent. Let’s be a bit more precise. It was 7 a.m. But more importantly, it was the day after the second anniversary of the release of Justice League, the DC superhero movie that Snyder was forced to exit due to a family emergency, which was then substantially reshot and retooled by replacement director Joss Whedon.

In the time since its release, something unusual happened: A growing movement of fans, rallied by the hashtag #ReleasetheSnyderCut, had called, agitated, petitioned — even bought a Times Square billboard and chartered a plane to fly a banner over Comic-Con — for Snyder’s version to be released. And on the film's second anniversary, the hashtag had its biggest day ever — with even the movie's stars Gal Gadot and Ben Affleck adding their voices on Twitter.

So here, the morning after, was their agent saying that Toby Emmerich, chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures, was acknowledging the movement, and more importantly, was willing to accede. "This is real. People out there want it. Would you guys ever consider doing something?" was what Emmerich was asking, Zack Snyder recalls.

The answer to Emmerich's question, a whispered-about secret for months, was revealed Wednesday when Zack Snyder confirmed, at the end of an online screening of his 2013 movie, Man of Steel, that his version of Justice League was indeed real. And that it will be coming to HBO Max, the WarnerMedia digital streaming service launching May 27, and is expected to debut in 2021.

It is currently unclear what form Snyder’s Justice League will take. Whether it will be released as an almost four-hour director’s cut or split into six "chapters" has yet to be decided, but the Snyders are now in the midst of reassembling much of their original postproduction crew to score, cut, add new and finish old visual effects, and, yes, maybe bring back many of the actors to record additional dialogue.

Also unclear is the cost of the endeavor. One source has pegged the effort in the $20 million range, although another source says that figure could be closer to $30 million. The parties involved had no comment.

"It will be an entirely new thing, and, especially talking to those who have seen the released movie, a new experience apart from that movie," Zack Snyder tells The Hollywood Reporter, noting that, to this day, he has not watched the version released in theaters.

"You probably saw one-fourth of what I did," the director notes, basing his judgment on what has been shared with him of Whedon's version.

Before Emmerich came calling, adds Snyder, "I always thought it was a thing that in 20 years, maybe somebody would do a documentary and I could lend them the footage, little snippets of a cut no one has ever seen."

But, adds Deborah Snyder, "With the new platform and streaming services, you can have something like this. You can’t release something like this theatrically, but you could with a streaming service. It’s an opportunity that wasn’t there two years ago, to be honest."

It is a very unlikely development, and the latest twist for a movie that has, like the Man of Steel himself, seen death and rebirth.

Snyder was in a unique position when he shot Justice League in 2016. Warner Bros. had entrusted its universe of DC characters to one filmmaker — him — and he had been building toward a great onscreen team-up, though not without some bumps in the road. He began with Man of Steel, which grossed $668 million worldwide, then followed up with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the 2016 blockbuster that polarized fans with its dark take on the iconic titular heroes and took in $873 million globally.

In January 2017, he had what he considered his optimal version of Justice League, almost four hours long, although he knew it was something the studio would not release. Warners wanted a cut in the two-hour range, and he delivered a rough version with an approximate two-hour, 20-minute running time. That was the first cut the studio saw. Both sides agreed that there was much work still to be done before the November release, but tragedy struck the Snyders when their daughter, Autumn, died by suicide. A month and a half later, Zack officially stepped away and Whedon was brought in.

League opened Nov. 17 to weak reviews and sluggish box office, eventually taking in $658 million worldwide. However, almost immediately a movement was born. Fans unhappy with the film created the now-infamous hashtag. A Change.org petition for Warners to release Snyder’s version had already garnered over 100,000 signatures less than five days after the movie’s release.

Forget that the version that fans wanted technically didn’t exist. What did exist was a semi-unfinished work, with no visual effects, no postproduction. One person who had seen that version described it like a car with no panels, just a drivetrain and some seats. And it sat on a hard drive in the Snyders' house. "When we left the movie, I just took the drive of the cut on it," says Zack Snyder. "I honestly never thought it would be anything."

In the year following their daughter's death, the Snyders closed circles around their family as they tried to heal from the tragedy. "The first year was about the milestones and the holidays," recalls Deborah Snyder. "Now, it’s not those but other moments, like songs that trigger memories, that hit me unexpectedly."

Adds Zack: "As a family, as a couple, I think we have grown in a way that has made us stronger. We’re doing our best. You really can’t hope for more."

The duo also became involved in suicide-prevention charity work and plotted a return to movies with Army of the Dead. Meanwhile, #ReleasetheSnyderCut became more organized and visible, gaining mainstream media attention. Zack Snyder fed into the movement by occasionally teasing images from his movie or storyboards on social media, in some ways only stoking the hot embers. And he saw some of the seeds he planted in his movies, especially in his castings of Gadot as Wonder Woman and Momoa as Aquaman, grow into gardens as the spinoffs became pop culture phenomenons and billion-dollar hits.

It was on the two-year anniversary, however, that the zenith hit and the hashtag became a top worldwide trend. "#ReleasetheSnyderCut is the most-tweeted hashtag about a movie that WB has ever made, but it’s a movie they’ve never released," says Snyder. "It’s a weird stat but it’s cool."

After the Saturday morning phone call, the Snyders began to move puzzle pieces into place. "We had to figure out what it meant to finish it, and how do you pull it off?" recalls Deborah.

The Snyders put together a presentation and, in early February, invited a select group of executives from Warner Bros., HBO Max and DC to their house in Pasadena to screen Zack's little-seen version that was shown in black and white. The number of executives in the room — there were more than a dozen in attendance, ranging from Warners' Emmerich, Carolyn Blackwood, and Walter Hamada to HBO Max's Kevin Reilly, Sarah Aubrey and Sandra Dewey to DC's Jim Lee — showed the importance of the potentially extensive undertaking. Heads of physical production and business affairs were there to assess what needed to be done and how much it would cost. At his presentation after the screening, Snyder outlined ideas for not just releasing the cut but the concept of episodes and cliffhangers.

The executives left the meeting pumped. The Snyder Cut was real. Except then it almost wasn’t.

The novel coronavirus struck, and Hollywood all but shut down in mid-March. Says Deborah, "People thought, 'It won’t be possible to ramp up, and that maybe this should go on the back burner.' But we said, 'No, this is the right time' because our visual effects houses that rely on so much are running out of work, so now is the time to be doing this." It also helped that many of those post facilities had held on to the original assets.

Snyder also spent April and May reaching out to the sizable cast, giving a heads-up on the new development and letting them know their services may be needed. (The first person called: Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg. "He was like, 'You’re kidding me, right?'" recalls Zack.)

There is no schedule going forward at this stage for the project as talks are now beginning with postproduction houses, which also gives HBO Max plenty of time to find the best way to present this version of Justice League. Snyder is at the same time in post on Army of the Dead, his zombie thriller for Netflix that also will debut in 2021.

For the Snyders, the chance to revisit the movie also brings the prospect for closure on a project they were forced to let go. "This movie was the culmination of a hero’s journey that all these characters went on," says Deborah Snyder. "And the idea was always to build them up to be the heroes people expected them to be."

And while the cut will contain the many elements Zack has teased over time (yes, expect Darkseid), the duo also relish adding a fair amount of character development. "What’s so lovely about this is that we get to explore these characters in ways that you’re not able to in a shorter theatrical version."

The Snyders know that fan power is what led to the Snyder Cut becoming a reality. "Clearly this wouldn’t be happening without them," says Zack. He also credits Warners for living up to its old reputation as the filmmaker’s studio.

Adds Zack, "This return to that pedigree and to let my singular vision of my movie be realized, in this format, in this length, is unprecedented and a brave move."

[crazy_asian_man]

In terms of helping out an industry that has had just about all its work frozen- this is excellent news--- it's a win-win for industry fx folks that need the work, it's a product that probably needs little to no shooting, and there's enough attention to it that it made HBO feel comfortable pumping money into it.

Also...

If this works---
With deepfakes tech, it'd be awesome if Donner and his wife would push to do something to do Superman 2 with $20 million to really do the directors' cut-
But my feeling is that the idea of the tech ressurecting deceased actors for unfinished projects might be too sore a spot for whole scenes...

Would depend on someone with influence wanting to push this all the way to the finish line.... but it would be an interesting thought-

Also, would be interesting if this re-generates interest in Superman again as a property, period... (Would WB allow a tv show AND a movie? One would think 'no', but look at the Flash...)

[Metallo]

That’s a great point, CAM. Those people need work and the studio and HBO max need content so it’s a win on both sides.

Just when they'd moved on from this horrible garbage version of the DC UNIVERSE a bunch of loud whiny nerds online pulled them back in. Gotta give em credit they made it happen though so kudos to them. The worst part is now every group of nerds on the internet will think they’ve got these studios over a barrel.

I think it’s gonna be an overstuffed mess and I have zero interest in this. The creative in me does like to see someone getting the chance to put out their version though. I think it’ll be sh!t like most of his stuff but there are people that will enjoy it. I think most people have already made up their minds. The people that hated his DC movies are probably not going to like it. They’ll still be pissed at WB for not letting him keep making DC movies.

As far as reigniting interest for a future Superman movie I don’t think a tv show being in production will stop it. WB will make a movie if they want to make it.

[crazy_asian_man]

May 20, 2020 16:14:11 GMT -5 Metallo said:

That’s a great point, CAM. Those people need work and the studio and HBO max need content so it’s a win on both sides.

Just when they'd moved on from this horrible garbage version of the DC UNIVERSE a bunch of loud whiny nerds online pulled them back in. Gotta give em credit they made it happen though so kudos to them. The worst part is now every group of nerds on the internet will think they’ve got these studios over a barrel.

I think it’s gonna be an overstuffed mess and I have zero interest in this. The creative in me does like to see someone getting the chance to put out their version though. I think it’ll be sh!t like most of his stuff but there are people that will enjoy it. I think most people have already made up their minds. The people that hated his DC movies are probably not going to like it. They’ll still be pissed at WB for not letting him keep making DC movies.

As far as reigniting interest for a future Superman movie I don’t think a tv show being in production will stop it. WB will make a movie if they want to make it.

It's hard to say how much Hollywood believes in online attention at this point...

Years ago at SDCC, Joss Whedon said that the studio DID pay attention- but who knows how much weight that they put into it now?

If fan popularity = box office, then Birds of Prey should have been a bit hit.

If (unmeasurable number of) fan hate = bad box office, then Captain Marvel should have been a disaster, but it wasn't.

So.... who knows?

I just want my damned Superman 2 international cut in wide in blu ray already!!!!

[Metallo]

You’re right. Online opinions and activity rarely have an affect unless it’s substantial. I think the Snyder Cut happened because of some unique circumstances. Sure the fans hammered the studio and everyone else constantly with hashtags, Twitter trends, and ads and billboards but I think the launch of HBO max was a big factor in this being finished and released. If the only choices were a disc release or theaters (Before the pandemic) I don’t think this would be happening now.

[crazy_asian_man]

May 20, 2020 16:44:59 GMT -5 Metallo said:

You’re right. Online opinions and activity rarely have an affect unless it’s substantial. I think the Snyder Cut happened because of some unique circumstances. Sure the fans hammered the studio and everyone else constantly with hashtags, Twitter trends, and ads and billboards but I think the launch of HBO max was a big factor in this being finished and released. If the only choices were a disc release or theaters (Before the pandemic) I don’t think this would be happening now.

It'd be nice if a revamped Superman 2 generated as much heat online- because with the situations, and current tech, one would think that would also be ideal as a property to sell.

If Hollywood has only partially come to a halt, you would think they'd look at all available content or ips that don't need location shooting right now....

[Metallo]

I think this halt might be one thing that freed up the money or made it easier to justify the Snyder cut along with getting people interested in HBO Max. They aren’t spending As much despite also losing money every day. Like you said this does create work for a lot of people.

[atp]

It will be crap

[Metallo]

May 23, 2020 1:08:44 GMT -5 atp said:

It will be crap

Just when we thought we were out, they pull us back in! It’ll be interesting to see a single directors cohesive vision as well as all the unseen footage but as far as the finished product I’m expecting more Snyder trash. Those early trailers were all him and looked like more of the same.

I think WB canned him because he can’t make the kind of film they asked for before he was fired. Even BVS somehow doubled down on all the problems people had with MOS. Snyder either genuinely didn’t get it or was being defiant. I think it was a little of both from the way he dismissed some people’s complaints.

[crazy_asian_man]

I think it's only positives that come out of this, though....

The DCEU experiment went the way it went.... We got a good (sadly not great) Wonder Woman film, a good Shazam film, and an okay Aquadude film.

I have doubts that no matter how successful HBO max is, that WB would ever ask Snyder to come back to be part of the DCEU again- or- if he'd really want to go back, knowing that the rug could get pulled from under him.

As far as Snyder listening to fans, it's a tricky thing: I do agree that movies can't be made by committee- but at the same time.... story wise, his sense of story does make me cringe.


In an ideal world, I would have trusted Singer to have guided the DCEU with Routs-Superman and Bale-Batman (it could have still been done post-Dark Knight Rises)....

But the world as is, I look at the positives:

#1: At least we got a 'good/ok' Joss Whedon JL movie.

#2: Snyder makes a pretty looking picture- although his visual interpretation of Kirby's new gods' world is HORRIBLE.... but generally he puts out nice eye candy anyhow-

#3: It puts fx people to work.

#4: It can't possibly be worse than Catwoman.


Being a superhero fanatic, I'm pleased this is coming out- even if in rough form I would have been curious- but not over the moon like I would be if a Singer or Donner extended cut of their Superman films came out.
(For that matter, even a fixed version of SIV would get me more enthused)

Speaking of which..... dvds made to order and streaming is there---- why wouldn't WB archives keep doing work on SII?

Anyhow- looking forward to it as a curiosity....

[Metallo]

The Snyder cut is a unique case but I think the biggest positive that might come out of this is studios considering revisiting old films that weren’t quite finished or ones with alternate cuts for their streaming services. It’ll only be films that have a lot of potential and a decent chance of pulling in an audience though. It’ll be a case by case thing but if something is just sitting there that could benefit them and it’s financially viable we could see more things like this.

Disney Plus is sitting on a goldmine with the original unaltered Star Wars trilogy alone. A massive combined version of Infinity War and Endgame (either a single film or a multi part release) is the same thing.

It’s hard to picture them reversing course and finishing the original versions of Solo or Rogue One but I wouldn’t say it’s impossible. There’s the original version of The Predator. Even WB has the original version of Suicide Squad. There are pros and cons and they would be costly but not as costly as making all new big budget tentpole level films for their services.

Of course one big negative is is toxic fans loudly whining and complaining thinking they can force every studio that made something they don’t like to give them whatever they want—like a do over.

[crazy_asian_man]

May 24, 2020 15:14:58 GMT -5 Metallo said:

The Snyder cut is a unique case but I think the biggest positive that might come out of this is studios considering revisiting old films that weren’t quite finished or ones with alternate cuts for their streaming services. It’ll only be films that have a lot of potential and a decent chance of pulling in an audience though. It’ll be a case by case thing but if something is just sitting there that could benefit them and it’s financially viable we could see more things like this.

Disney Plus is sitting on a goldmine with the original unaltered Star Wars trilogy alone. A massive combined version of Infinity War and Endgame (either a single film or a multi part release) is the same thing.

It’s hard to picture them reversing course and finishing the original versions of Solo or Rogue One but I wouldn’t say it’s impossible. There’s the original version of The Predator. Even WB has the original version of Suicide Squad. There are pros and cons and they would be costly but not as costly as making all new big budget tentpole level films for their services.

Of course one big negative is is toxic fans loudly whining and complaining thinking they can force every studio that made something they don’t like to give them whatever they want—like a do over.

hadn’t thought about rogue one or solo- but it’s a great idea!

my request would be the xmen 1.5 that was supposed to happen. i’d say spiderman 3 but i think raimi is done with that experience.

david lynch with dune, though....

[Metallo]

I doubt it’ll happen since Disney doesn’t seem to be into alternate cuts for its big movies these days but like I said you never know. Some of those unused shots from Rogue Ones trailer looked amazing and I’m guessing there’s a tonal difference. Solo was almost entirely remade. Reports vary but Howard may have reshot as much as 90 percent of that movie.

X-men 1.5 got a DVD release CAM. not sure you if you mean yet another version but I own an extended version that puts in a lot of the deleted scenes via seamless branching. Fox was pretty into extended cuts for their big movies. Fantastic Four 05, Daredevil, Elektra, and several of the X-men films all got extended versions. They were big money makers back then so a lot of marvel movies by other studios got those kinds of releases too.

What I’d like to see is the Trank cut of Fantastic Four. Probably terrible but I’m still curious.

[Metallo]

Interesting rumors going around. I’m listening to a certain podcaster that has ties to the entertainment industry and insider sources in the past that turned out to be right.

He claims Snyder initially asked for $70 million to finish his cut but HBO MAX and WB turned that down. IF this is true it sounds like Snyder either asked for more money to do an even bigger spectacle film and go whole hog or this movie was less finished than we thought.

[crazy_asian_man]

Shockingly, 'The Crown' on Netflix was $130 million for the first season & I think Amazon is spending $100 million for the LOTR - so, I guess $70 million didn't seem unreasonable to him to ask.

On the plus side- can't say that he's not passionate about what he works on.

While I was not crazy about the nuttiness of MOS, I did admire his going all out on the dvd.... shows it wasn't 'just a job' to him.

Even the worst film in the world can be somewhat fascinating if someone really puts their heart & soul in it.
(i.e. 'Super' with James Gunn).

[Metallo]

$70 million for Post Production. Not for the entire production. For an overall project they’ve already dumped $300 million into at that. There’s a big difference. Those other productions were spending that kind of money for everything from sets, special effects, cast and crew pay through the entire process, etc. breaking down post production budgets separately would be more comparable.

Plus HBO Max is a starting up service not an established one like Netflix who do spend that kind of big money on film and series productions. WB has probably given them budgets for programming that might have a lower cap because of that. Snyder’s got to understand this isn’t the same as a theatrically releases film where he had $250 million to throw around. Different model.

[crazy_asian_man]

May 25, 2020 14:51:49 GMT -5 Metallo said:

$70 million for Post Production. Not for the entire production. For an overall project they’ve already dumped $300 million into at that. There’s a big difference. Those other productions were spending that kind of money for everything from sets, special effects, cast and crew pay through the entire process, etc. breaking down post production budgets separately would be more comparable.

Plus HBO Max is a starting up service not an established one like Netflix who do spend that kind of big money on film and series productions. WB has probably given them budgets for programming that might have a lower cap because of that. Snyder’s got to understand this isn’t the same as a theatrically releases film where he had $250 million to throw around. Different model.

Well- I normally would balk, but if the majority of the production still needed to be computer-generated, I could sort of see that.

On the other hand- it is interesting that the horrible "Total Recall" reboot got all kinds of computer generated stuff on the directors' cut that was allowed because the cgi didn't need to be hi-q enough to withstand a giant movie screen--- maybe Snyder was thinking/hoping ahead that if it were successful it could get a limited re-release and need that cgi detail.

Still-
I have nothing invested in it- and I was fine with rough cut or no rough cut.... as long it's not MY 20 million....

[Metallo]

I can believe it might need $70 million for post production work to be up to his usual standards for a theatrical release but this isn’t that. Like I said it’s a different model. For something that’s already costs them hundreds of millions of dollars in another form. He really needs to keep his expectations realistic. The fact that he’s getting this at all is because of a very unique confluence of events.

[crown]

I think Michael Thau should edit this.

[crazy_asian_man]

May 25, 2020 17:52:31 GMT -5 Metallo said:

I can believe it might need $70 million for post production work to be up to his usual standards for a theatrical release but this isn’t that. Like I said it’s a different model. For something that’s already costs them hundreds of millions of dollars in another form. He really needs to keep his expectations realistic. The fact that he’s getting this at all is because of a very unique confluence of events.

Well, I don't blame him for asking for the moon, but smart that he's not walking away and going ahead with what they are giving him.
I'm curious, but hoping it's worth the time to view it. Though- once again- I'd be more over the moon if it was Superman II or Superman IV getting the upgrade...

On the flip side, I'd be ok if this ended up inspiring a Josh Trank Fantastic Four cut and/or a Dark Phoenix cut as originally intended. (Both could still be disasters, but curious)

[Metallo]

I think he should be happy with what he’s getting. He was pushing it asking for the moon imo. WB easily could have balked. Asking for more than what he’s working with now would have killed this deal.

[Metallo]

Guess this is the first teaser. The Darkseid in the cave drawing looks spot on. The brief wide shot of him looks horrid. The proportions are all off and more on line with Steppenwolfs tall gangly form. Hope they fix that.

[crazy_asian_man]

Jun 18, 2020 16:53:26 GMT -5 Metallo said:

Guess this is the first teaser. The Darkseid in the cave drawing looks spot on. The brief wide shot of him looks horrid. The proportions are all off and more on line with Steppenwolfs tall gangly form. Hope they fix that.

More Gal Gadot was Wonder Woman is fine with me.
The worst thing that could happen with the success of the Snyder cut is Snyder being put in charge of the DCEU again.
The best thing is more director cuts being released of movies I want them to.

[EnriqueH]

I wasn’t a fan of MOS and thought BvS was mildly entertaining, so I don’t think more Zack Snyder will make me like JL any more than the previous 2 films, but hey. More power to the fans who enjoyed Snyder’s DCU work. For me
Personally, I can’t imagine it would be much better than the first two films.

I still haven’t seen the theatrical.

It has been YEARS since I saw MOS so I want to give it another chance