Zack Snyder’s original intent for the 2017 Justice League film will finally be seen by all. Well, at least all who subscribe to HBO Max.
The director announced today that his original edit for the film, nicknamed simply “The Snyder Cut” by fans, will indeed see the light of day as part of the lineup on the HBO Max streaming service from Warner Brothers. While the service debuts later this month, Snyder’s director’s cut won’t appear until some point next year as either a four-hour film or as a mini-series event broken into chapters.
The full text of Warner Brothers’ press release is below.
The project will be costing Warner Brothers an estimated $20 to 30 million to fully realized the film from the state it was left in when Snyder departed the project. Reportedly Snyder and his wife, producer Deborah Snyder, are working to bring back Justice League‘s original post-production team to finish off the film’s editing, visual effects and other post-production work.
Snyder originally was crafting Justice League for Warner Brothers as part of the DC Extended Universe franchise, a series of interconnected films based on the heroes and villains found in DC Comics. The film was a follow up to Snyder’s Man Of Steel and Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice and carried forward some ongoing plotlines from the previous two films.
However, after the studio saw a roughcut of Snyder’s work, they asked for some changes. Fan favorite writer/director Joss Whedon was brought in to originally help with the scripting of new material, but after Snyder dropped out due to a family crisis, Whedon took the reigns of the entire project. The result was something of a disappointing Frankenstein patchwork of a film.
Almost from the moment of Justice League‘s release, fans of Snyder’s work on the franchise have waged a social media campaign to get the studio to allow Snyder to finish the version he started. However, with released version facing poor reviews and only making back $658 million on it’s reported $300 million budget and there fore not making enough to turn a profit, it was thought that the studio would not want to throw good money after bad.
Here is the complete Warner brothers press release –
LOS ANGELES – May 20, 2020 – After global passionate fan calls to action and the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement, HBO Max and Warner Bros. Pictures announced today that it will exclusively world premiere Zack Snyder’s director’s cut of the Warner Bros. Pictures/DC feature film Justice League in 2021. Snyder surprised fans with the news this morning during a live online commentary of his film Man of Steel with Henry Cavill.
#ReleaseTheSnyderCut first became a passionate rallying social media cry among fans in 2017 and has not let up. From countless press articles and hundreds of thousands of social media mentions, it became a powerful global movement among cinephiles and comic book fans.
“I want to thank HBO Max and Warner Brothers for this brave gesture of supporting artists and allowing their true visions to be realized. Also a special thank you to all of those involved in the SnyderCut movement for making this a reality,” said Snyder.
“Since I got here 14 months ago, the chant to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut has been a daily drumbeat in our offices and inboxes. Well, the fans have asked, and we are thrilled to finally deliver. At the end of the day, it really is all about them and we are beyond excited to be able to release Zack’s ultimate vision for this film in 2021. This could never have happened if it weren’t for the hard work and combined efforts of the teams at HBO Max and Warner Bros. Pictures,” said Robert Greenblatt, Chairman, Warner Media Entertainment and Direct-To-Consumer.
“When Zack and Debbie shared the extraordinary vision of where Zack wanted to take Justice League, my team and our counterparts at Warner Bros. took it as a mission to solve the many issues that stood in the way,” said Kevin Reilly, Chief Content Officer at HBO Max, President, TNT, TBS and truTV. “Thanks to the partnership at Warner Bros. and the relentless pursuit of the entire WarnerMax team we are able to deliver this incredibly exciting moment for Zack, the fans and HBO Max.”
“Thanks to the efforts of a lot people, we’re excited to bring fans this highly anticipated version of Justice League,” said Toby Emmerich, Chairman, Warner Bros. Pictures Group. “This feels like the right time to share Zack’s story, and HBO Max is the perfect platform for it. We’re glad the creative planets aligned, allowing us to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut.”
In Justice League, fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.
The Justice League screenplay is by Chris Terrio, story by Chris Terrio & Zack Snyder, based on characters from DC, Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The film’s producers are Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, with executive producers Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Jim Rowe, Ben Affleck, Wesley Coller, Curtis Kanemoto, and Chris Terrio.
