A Reel Opinion: JUSTICE LEAGUE Take 2

With the global pandemic known as COVID19 shutting down Hollywood releases and productions, there hasn’t been much movie news to write about. Last week however came news that would have stopped the presses pandemic or not; Zack Snyder’s JUSTICE LEAGUE will debut on the new streaming service HBO Max in 2021, either in a four-hour director’s cut or in six TV-style chapters. The news immediately sent social media into a frenzy, with two entrenched sides; those who want no more superhero movies from Snyder, and those who have been cult-like in their support of it…going to war. 

What is this all about? Back in 2016, Warner Bros. finally began filming JUSTICE LEAGUE; their superhero team-up film with famed DC Comics characters Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman all appearing together. At the helm was Snyder, who had just delivered two not-so-well-received DC films; the Superman flick MAN OF STEEL (2013), and BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (2016). Seven months after filming finished, Snyder stepped away from the project for personal reasons. In his place came Joss Whedon, who had brought us the mighty AVENGERS (2012) for rival studio Marvel. For curious reasons, Whedon re-wrote, re-shot, and re-edited Snyder’s film. The result was a compromised movie that felt choppy, truncated, and in the eyes of most fans…incomplete. Critics were harsh, and the box office take was harsher. 

Since the release of the film in November of 2017, fans have been banging the drum for the Snyder Cut; the film that Snyder wanted to make. Fans pushed the hashtag #ReleaseTheSnyderCut across social media platforms to the point of annoyance, with some groups even hijacking panels at comic-cons. The general thought was that there was a completed film just sitting in a vault at Warners, just waiting for some executive to let it out. 

While those supporters of the Snyder Cut may have their hearts in the right place, most of them just didn’t understand how filmmaking works. News outlets are reporting that the forthcoming HBO release will require at least $30 million to complete, which includes visual effects, scoring, and bringing actors back in to record additional dialogue. No actual filming will take place. All that post-production work indicates that there was never a completed film ready to go, which means all the hashtaggers were demanding a car that was only partly down the assembly line. 

Many fans have accepted this news with a groan, while others who have been hashtagging away see this as a win for fandom. The latter can take a victory lap all they want, but many film writers have pointed out that with COVID shutting down productions all over the world, patching together a new JUSTICE LEAGUE would be a relatively easy way to make content for a new streaming service. Fans that hated Snyder’s previous two superhero films, which were the lead-up to JUSTICE LEAGUE, are certainly not looking forward to more from him. And there is still the un-answered question of why Whedon was tasked with re-arranging and changing so much from Snyder’s original plan. Rumors have persisted that it was a mess, and it’s now up to Snyder and HBO to clean it up. Either way, this is one story that is only just beginning to enter its homestretch. 

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ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE will debut on HBO Max in 2021.