The Snyder Cut is Confirmed... for 2021
On May 20th, 2020, comic fans rejoiced the world over as HBO announced that the fabled "Snyder Cut" of the DC Comics' 2017 movie Justice League would be coming to their HBO Max service… at some undefined point next year. The question is, why?
Zack Snyder famously was the sole creative head behind the Justice League movie until he left in early 2017 after his daughter tragically committed suicide. Left with, allegedly, an incomplete movie, Warner Brothers brought in Joss Whedon to finish the film, at Snyder's personal request. This involved script rewrites, new effects shots, new scenes to be shot, and an incredibly uncomfortable amount of CGI to be slapped on the face of Henry Cavill, who was filming Mission Impossible at the time and could not shave his mustache or beard. The movie made double its claimed budget of 300 million dollars, becoming a success financially… though less so critically. Online fans of Zack Snyder's vision for DC would decry this movie, eventually starting a chant that would circle the drains of the internet for three years: Release the Snyder Cut.
Zack Snyder would infamously taunt fans that his cut of the film was done, and would eventually rope in actors from the movie to tweet out the hashtag Release the Snyder Cut. Arguments would rage that, yes, Snyder was a visionary, and only his vision of DC was what mattered. Finally, as mentioned at the start, the Snyder Cut was confirmed… to come out at some point at a minimum of 7 months from now.
Despite being a grand moment of celebration for those demanding the Snyder Cut, it also reveals a few interesting facts about the movie as well.
Fact 1: it's not actually finished. At least, not in any viewable state.
If the movie was complete and viewable, the film would 100% be out sooner than 7 months from now. This is to give Zack Snyder a chance to cobble together his vision of the movie from the scraps leftover on the proverbial cutting room floor. It's possible there is a workprint out there that will be built upon, with the time going entirely to effects crews and post-production. The fact that Snyder has gone on record that he is looking to wrangle the cast together for after-dialogue recording, as well as the reported 20-30 million dollar budget he has been given to actually complete the film with (hopefully) the original crew, suggests that such a workprint would be incomplete at this time, however.
Fact 2: Warner is not "caving in" about the Snyder Cut.
The Snyder Cut is going to be exclusive to HBO Max, with zero mention of a possible home release. While this does give Snyder's vocal fans a way to see what he has envisioned for the movie, there will be no theatrical release of this movie, and zero home releases have been announced. In fact, this feels remarkably similar to another "movie featuring Superman with the director replaced featuring lots of re-shot scenes used to hype a service."
Fact 3: WB is recycling the playbook from Superman 2: The Richard Donner Cut.
While the circumstances around the removal of Richard Donner from Superman 2 were far less tragic, fans often lamented throughout the 80s and 90s that Superman's Second movie would have been so much better in the hands of Richard Donner rather than his replacement, Richard Lester. Booted out by the producers after 75% of making the originally-planned pair of Superman movies in 1977 and 1978, Lester would re-shoot many scenes with alternate dialogue and an entirely different ending.
After a pair of decades with fans wanting a director's cut of Superman 2, WB would eventually release a Richard Donner cut of the movie to coincide with the box set of Superman movie starring Christopher Reeves and helping to hype up Superman Returns at the same time. Cobbled together out of unused footage, test footage, and polished off as a separate product, it was a cynical move from Warner that at least gave fans what they had been asking for in the pre-social media age.
Fact 4: This is far from the first time a Director's Cut has existed, much less for a superhero movie. And that's ok.
With the advent of home video in the 1980s, movie studios looked to receive more money at a lower investment for a new product. Highlander 2 was so famously horrible that it received no less than two re-edits, one being a Director's cut. Blade Runner also infamously was so butchered by studios that it has received multiple edits, and most of them have made fans happier than the theatrical release. Daredevil infamously became the first to receive a Director’s Cut when it came to being a superhero movie of less than stellar quality.
Now, will the Snyder Cut be better than the Whedon cut? Anything is possible, and the fans of Zack Snyder's style of superheroics are certainly going to be pleased no matter what. However, the odds are remarkably low that this is anything but a calculated move to gain press for Snyder's career, Warner's pockets, and HBO Max subscription levels.
Still, it could be worse. We could be getting the butthole cut of Cats.
