Snyder Cut Movement Is A Triumph Of The Fans Over Powerful Execs
It all started with an online petition by one fan, it ended up being signed by more than 170 thousand fans.
It all started on the 17th of November, 2017, the day I would never forget, when the most awaited movie of the year, well at least for me and millions of other comic-book nerds, released. I went to the theatres, first day, first show. All the hype, all the excitement, all the aspirations of watching my favourite superheroes in one movie were shattered to pieces in just 2 hours. Everyone understood the forced humour of Batman, the flash-falling-on-Wonder-Woman scene, and the bad-CGI of Superman and Steppenwolf, just cannot be the vision of Snyder.
The movie was a failure critically and financially. Yes, the movie was not completed by Snyder as he had to step down during the post-production of the movie due to personal tragedy and had to pass the directorial duties to Joss Whedon. The problem occurred when Whedon reshot the majority of the movie, leaving incredibly important plot points that would have set up the DC Extended Universe. When the comic book fans watched the movie, they felt like they have been robbed of seeing their favourite heroes. Even some fans said that the trailers of the movie were far better than the entire movie as some of the shots shown in the trailer were not there in the movie.
Petition on Change.org
It all started when a fan, Roberto Mata from Puerto Rico, started an online petition in Change.org which attracted over 170 thousand signatures.
“Justice League is the culmination of the alien’s story and the beginning of a new chapter in the DC Extended Universe. Fans have been waiting for years, while others have waited decades for the film to finally arrive on the silver screen. The 2hr runtime is disrespectful towards Zack Snyder’s vision and towards the fans who have waited for more than a year to see the alien’s story come to an end.
Warner Bros. has set some kind of precedent for this kind of thing, having released the Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice — Ultimate Edition with a significant number of scenes cut from the theatrical edition of the movie restored. However, Suicide Squad, another movie where much of the director’s original footage was excised and rearranged for the theatrical cut, received no such restored edition.”
— Mission statement of the petition
The message was loud and clear. The fans wanted to see ‘The Snyder Cut’ as they believed that the original cut existed.
#ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement
There were so many speculations about whether The Snyder Cut exists or not with various videos and articles covering the topic over the years. No one believed it existed except the fans (and that’s what it matters right?). But then some of the crew members confirmed that the original cut was 100% completed. Some of the footages from the original cut were released online, which confirmed the theory thereby motivating people to want to see Snyder’s version of Justice League.
The online petition and the leaked sequences from the original cut sparked the campaign, which also spawned a website called ForSnyderCut.com, which became a one-stop-shop for all Snyder Cut news. The hashtag ‘ReleaseTheSnyderCut’ (or simply #ReleaseTheSnyderCut) started trending on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and various other social media platforms. Fans marched to Warner Bros.’ Burbank studio in January 2018 to demonstrate their support for this campaign.
On the second anniversary of the theatrical cut, the cast and crew, including actors Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ciarán Hinds, and Ray Fisher, as well as photographer Clay Enos, storyboard artist Jay Oliva, and cinematographer Wagner, expressed their support on social media.
The Revival of Snyder Cut
After months of conjecture, Snyder acknowledged in March 2019 that his original cut indeed exists and that it was up to Warner Bros. to release it. Snyder shared a photo on his Vero account in December 2019 of boxes with tapes labelled “Z.S. J.L Director’s Cut”, with the caption “Is it real? Is it a thing? Yes, of course, it does.”
Warner Bros. first approached Synder about releasing his incomplete edit, which was strongly objected to by the filmmaker, who insisted on either finishing the movie or leaving it as he wanted to give the people what they wanted. After acknowledging the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign, WarnerMedia (owned by AT&T) chose to continue forward in February 2020. The film was set to be released on HBO Max, WarnerMedia’s streaming service, which was set to begin on May 27, 2020.
Initially, the idea was not to shoot any extra footage other than to finish the unfinished portion, but Snyder went ahead and shot regardless. The reshoot’s budget grew to around $70 million. For the shoot, Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Ezra Miller, and Ray Fisher reprised their roles. In addition, Amber Heard, Jared Leto, and Joe Manganiello joined the ensemble to reprise their DCEU roles as Mera, the Joker, and the Deathstroke, respectively.
Fans, on the other hand, were ecstatic across several social media sites. Some Snyder fans posted videos of themselves trashing their theatrical cut DVD and Blu-ray discs.
The Release & Reception
The film was released on HBO Max in the United States and other compatible streaming platforms worldwide on March 18, 2021. The film’s release was a testimony to all of the fans who believed in themselves, the fandom, and the director. The #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement not only brought the people together but also held a variety of fundraising events on behalf of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, which is incredible.
The film was well-received by both reviewers and audiences. I felt like I was seeing a whole other movie while viewing it. Many crucial narrative events and character arcs were omitted from the theatrical version. Critics praised Snyder’s direction and “ability to offer more depth to characters,” though some criticized its runtime (242 minutes). The movie also redeemed Jared Leto as the Joker, who was better received in this movie than his previous appearance in Suicide Squad.
The film shattered box office records both in the United States and throughout the world. The film was seen by a stunning 2.2 million households in the United States during its first full week of release, with 792,000 (36%) finishing it. During the same time period, the HBO Max app was downloaded 64% more and opened 8.9% more than in a typical week. According to Forbes, if all new members saw the film and remained subscribers to the platform, Zack Snyder’s Justice League would generate around $266 million in income for Warner Bros. In India, the film was released on BookMyShow Stream, and about 100,000 households viewed it at its first weekend. The film was seen by 954,000 homes in the United Kingdom, where it is available on Sky Cinema, with 458,000 (48%) seeing it in its entirety.
The Future
Fans are ecstatic to see DC’s greatest villain, Darkseid, in action, and they can’t stop talking about it. In addition, the film ends on a cliffhanger, with the villain plotting an invasion of the planet. Fans are unable to remain calm since Snyder’s initial idea was for a Justice League film trilogy. The #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement, in theory, was supposed to die out after the film’s release on March 18. The opposite happened.
Fans have started campaigning for #RestoreTheSnyderVerse after the movie was released and it started trending for several days. It went mainstream when Ray Fisher, Joe Manganiello, who plays Deathstroke and Ray Porter, who plays the film’s villain, Darkseid, have all tweeted their support behind the #RestoreTheSnyderVerse hashtag.
In my opinion, the viewership numbers from HBO Max and other streaming platforms alone make a pretty strong case to continue Snyder’s vision. It would be financially stupid to not go with the sequels, now that they have a streaming service, they can release the movies exclusively there.
I am not sure whether the sequels would see the light of the day although I am highly optimistic. I am quite satisfied that Zack Snyder’s Justice League released which was a pipe-dream for many fans like me; a dream to see a live-action Justice League movie (and, yes I am not calling the 2017 release as a movie).
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