Fans ofZack Snyderrejoiced earlier this year when it was announced that Warner Bros. was giving the filmmaker a budget to fulfill“The Snyder Cut”ofJustice League, but the upcoming HBO Max project may be a swan song for the man who kicked off the DCEU in earnest.
While it’s previously been rumored that Warner Bros. invested a large sum of money into letting Snyder complete his version ofJustice League, theNew York Timesconfirms the new project cost WB at least $70 million. Snyder was just about to begin production onJustice LeaguewhenBatman v. Superman: Dawn of Justicehit theaters and was savaged by critics, leading Warner Bros. to rethink the original plan for Snyder’sJustice League. Plans were altered on the fly and although filming was completed, they intended to reconvene for some additional photography to finish the movie.
But Snyder leftJustice Leaguein the early stages of post-production to attend to a personal tragedy, and Warner Bros. brought inJoss Whedonto write a considerable number of new scenes and direct extensive reshoots on the project. The theatrically released version was essentially a film with no author, as Warner Bros. tried to steer the superhero team-up to something lighter in tone while still constrained by what was originally shot and crafted via visual effects.
The Snyder Cut, then, is Snyder using extensive post-production tools (and a couple days of additional photography) to adjust his footage to something more in line with his original vision, and will be released as four one-hour installments on HBO Max. It may also getsome kind of theatrical exhibition, but it sounds like that will likely be the end of the road for Snyder and DC Films.
In the same NY Times report, which profiles DC Films headWalter Hamadaand outlines the studio’splans for DC adaptations going forward, it’s revealed that Snyder is “not part of the new DC Films blueprint” for now, with executives describing The Snyder Cut as a storytelling cul-de-sac – “a street that leads nowhere.” In other words, The Snyder Cut will certainly be closer to Snyder’s original vision forJustice League, but is not expected to kick off storylines forBen Affleck’s Batman,Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, orHenry Cavill’s Superman that will be continued in future films.
Indeed, when Snyder was hand selected by Warner Bros. and producerChristopher Nolanto reboot Superman withMan of Steel, he began laying the groundwork for an interconnected DC Extended Universe.Batman v. Supermanintroduced the major DC players and hinted towards the supervillain Darkseid, andJustice Leaguewas intended to be the first half of a larger story that would be continued inJustice League Part Twoas Snyder produced the other singular adventures likeWonder WomanandThe Flash. That all kind of got waylaid after Warner Bros. saw the reaction toBatman v Supermanand was spooked, as the studio then took more control over the individual films.
And I will say, while I’m not a huge fan of Snyder’s uber-darkBatman v. Superman, I would have much rather seen his unfiltered vision forJustice Leaguethan the neutered version we eventually got, and part of me is still quite curious about what the DCEU would have looked like had he been able tostick to his plansand build to Darkseid inJustice League 2.
But for now at least, it appears as though The Snyder Cut will be more of a proper goodbye than a starting point for anything more.
