After a long fan campaign, the Justice League Snyder Cut is being released. It has been more than two years of tweets, petitions, magazine ads and even a plane pulling a banner through the skies of LA and San Diego.
Aside from the faithful, few thought that Zack Snyder's infamously unfinished work would actually see the light of day (or a projector). But, Snyder himself has recently revealed, it is indeed on its way, via Warner Media's streaming service, HBO Max, but not until next year.
The Snyder Cut is being released! Huzzah! Wait.... What's the Snyder Cut?
In case you're one of the few people unaware, the "Snyder Cut" refers to Man Of Steel and Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice director Zack Snyder's version of 2017's Justice League, which never actually made it to cinemas. Oh, sure, Snyder's name is still on the theatrical release, but that version was actually largely written and shot by Joss Whedon. To explain why, we need to look at the history of the original Justice League edit.
Why The Snyder Cut? Didn't Zack Snyder make the movie?
Glad you asked. Here's the deal: way back in 2014, Warner Bros. announced that Snyder, who had been handed guardianship of the studio's DC comics adaptation in the hopes he'd bring what was then known as the DC Extended Universe to the same level of success as Marvel, would be making two Justice League films. The aim, of course, being to having them on screen in 2017 and 2019. Fast-forward to 2016 and the official line from the filmmakers was that there was never a plan for two linked films or that it would simply be one after the other, an original and a sequel. When Snyder embarked on shooting, the former was the party line.
Snyder's vision for his superhero team-up was, according to producing partner/wife Deborah, "about the purpose of being a superhero. Superman's death had such a strong effect on Batman, and he really regains faith in humanity and everything that's good. This alien just gave his life for us. And it really changes who Batman is, and he also feels responsibility to honour him, because he didn't feel like he did it when he was living."
If you want a better synopsis, head to our originalJustice Leagueprimer.
Why didn't Snyder finish his film?
Tragedy struck in March 2017, when Snyder's daughter Autumn, died by suicide. The distraught director, with the full support of Warners, downed tools during post-production. He'd held test screenings for friends and colleagues and determined that there were still scenes he wanted to alter and re-shoot. Joss Whedon, who worked such wonders for Marvel with the Avengers, was brought in to polish the new script pages and, once Snyder confirmed he didn't want to move the release date to accommodate any time off, direct the additional footage. "The directing is minimal and it has to adhere to the style and tone and the template that Zack set,” Warner Bros. production chief Toby Emmerich told The Hollywood Reporter at the time. "We’re not introducing any new characters. It’s the same characters in some new scenes. He’s handing the baton to Joss, but the course has really been set by Zack. I still believe that despite this tragedy, we’ll still end up with a great movie."
Of course, the final result ended up as quite different to Snyder's original vision, with Whedon adding more humour and changing some of the villain dynamics. "You probably saw one-fourth of what I did," Snyder, who reportedly has never seen the theatrical version completely has since said. Justice League arrived in cinemas to mixed reviews and ended up with $657 million worldwide. Which, while far from a flop, is also not considered a big success in an era where the biggest blockbusters routinely cross the billion dollar mark.
And what about the fan campaign?
That's where it gets interesting. Fans quickly began to rally to demand that Warners release Snyder's version of the film. The campaign stretched across social media sites, and spilled over into real life with the purchase of a banner flown over events and Warners HQ and ads in trade magazines. Snyder encouraged it himself, hinting about the existence of the cut, while some of his colleagues such as cinematographer Larry Fong added fuel to the fire. More recently, the cast has been getting in on the act.
What needs to happen now to finish The Snyder Cut?
Obviously, what Snyder made couldn't have been released without some extra work. So the director is re-assembling some of the post-production team who worked on his version to add new score, finish original visual effects, add some more and, potentially, round up Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot and the others to record some new dialogue. The tone is still a mystery, though chances are it'll chart a darker path than what was seen in cinemas.
When and where can I see The Snyder Cut?
At the moment, the only detail we have is that it'll be on HBO Max next year. That's just the latest of the big company streaming services to enter the fray against the likes of Netflix, Disney+ and Apple TV+. Right now, there's no release date for the service in the UK, but hopefully by 2021 some deal will have been worked out to either let it launch here or provide content to various channels the same way Hulu, for example, sends shows to Britain.
As for what form the film will take, that's also up in the air. According to a story in The Hollywood Reporter, it'll either be a long director's cut of the film or possibly in several chapters. Either way, it'll cost somewhere between $20-30 million to complete. Will it be worth it? That's for history to decide, but you know there will plenty of interest.