The much awaited ‘Snyder Cut’ was finally released on March 18, 2021.
After the disappointment that was Justice League (2017), fans spent 4 years demanding the release of director Zach Snyder’s version of the movie.
It all started in 2017 when Justice League brought together Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and the Flash for the first time on screen. Zack Snyder was initially part of the team and directed the movie, but had to step down due to a family tragedy. Joss Whedon who was hired to oversee the rest of the production, wrote and directed additional scenes, reshot some scenes and changed many aspects of Snyder’s version. The film was widely panned by critics and was a box-office flop, losing Warner Bros. almost $60 million.
Die-hard fans of Snyder’s films saw this as an inferior version of the film that was planned. Fans started pushing for Snyder’s original version of the film and started a hashtag #ReleasetheSnyderCut. They made so much online noise that Warner Bros. finally gave in and agreed to release the extended directors cut, i.e., Zack Snyder’s Justice League which was nicknamed Snyder Cut.
This is not the first time fans have successfully influenced the creative decisions of the industry. For example, when fans responded with outrage over the character design of Sonic the Hedgehog, the director decided to change the design and the release date of the movie was pushed back 6 months. This shows that movie makers are taking into consideration the opinions of the fans and their most notable one yet just might be the release of the Snyder Cut, which runs for over 4 hours and cost an additional $70 million dollars to make.
After the Snyder cut was released, it was considered an improvement to Justice League. The plot was more or less the same: Batman puts together a team of superheroes to fight against a threat from another planet that wants to destroy Earth. Snyder’s version was darker and had far more character development and backstories which contributed to the extra two hours of runtime. A notable change in ZSJL include the reason as to why the supervillain Steppenwolf, with his new and improved looks and armour, wanted to destroy Earth, which was to gain back the favour of his estranged boss Darkseid who’s an even bigger baddie.
Steppenwolf in the 2017 JL Steppenwolf in ZSJL
The fan base who pushed for Snyder cut also had a toxic side to it with the executives of WarnerMedia receiving threats for standing in the way of Snyder Cut’s release.
After the release of ZSJL, fans are now pushing for the continuity of Snyder’s version into future films. A new hashtag #RestoreTheSnyderVerse has been trending, but Warner Media Studios CEO Ann Sarnoff shut down this possibility by saying,
“I appreciate that they love Zack’s work and we are very thankful for his many contributions to DC. We’re so happy that he could bring his cut of the Justice League to life because that wasn’t in the plan until about a year ago. With that comes the completion of his trilogy”.
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