Hello, #ReleaseTheSnyderCut haters. Guess what? The joke’s on you! Warner Bros. is dropping hints that Zack Snyder’s Justice League cut will eventually release on HBO Max.
Reading the tea leaves too much? Wishful thinking? No and no. Maybe The Joker would have a better zinger to send to those who bash Snyder. Alas, let’s proceed…
Warner’s Snyder-friendly social media — and cast support
Credit to @FilmGob on Twitter for tracking down this activity, as two official WarnerMedia accounts recently re-followed Snyder:
The Justice League cast members Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Batman (Ben Affleck), Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) have all posted #ReleaseTheSnyderCut on social media in the past week.
Check out the posts from Gadot and Affleck that Snyder responded to:
It’s hard to imagine WarnerMedia would let the cast come out so strong without some plans up their sleeve. The official company accounts followed Snyder after this Twitter storm, by the way.
No word yet from Henry Cavill’s Superman, but he has to be the one pining for this the most. Just as an example, this neat clip to start one of Justice League‘s trailers didn’t make the final cut.
Then there was the whole mustache controversy. Because Cavill was filming Mission: Impossible – Fallout, he wasn’t permitted to shave his mustache. That led to an ugly post-production edit, and Superman sporting an odd-looking upper lip.
Because of how Justice League ultimately turned out, fans have been clamoring for Snyder’s original vision for two years.
“Snyder cut” backstory
For those not entirely familiar with the backstory behind this #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement, here’s a brief rundown:
Snyder was working on Justice League and shot much of the film before having to take a leave of absence from the production. It was later revealed he needed time away to grieve for his daughter, who had taken her own life.
The Avengers director Joss Whedon came in and finished the project. Due to the conflicting creative visions of Snyder and Whedon, extensive reshoots wore on. The budget ballooned. Justice League lost the studio a reported $60 million.
All this led to a falling-out with Warner Bros. and Snyder. Now they’re seeming friendly again. Why is that?
Snyder has been posting pictures of his version of Justice League on Vero for a long time. That’s fed the notion that a “Snyder cut” exists.
HBO Max can’t miss this opportunity
The WarnerMedia streamer launches in May 2020. HBO Max has been making major acquisitions deals of preexisting properties and signing top-tier creative talent.
But one of the big takeaways from its media day late last month was the initial subscription cost of $14.99. That’s the steepest among all major streamers, and more than double that of recently-launched Disney+.
What better way to bring in a big base of initial subscribers than HBO Max dropping the Snyder cut?
Liberty Media chairman and investor, John Malone, opined Thursday, per Deadline, that WarnerMedia’s streaming platform is in trouble. Malone implied the high price point and existence of HBO itself already won’t bring many new subscribers.
Well, here’s one way to do it, HBO Max: release the Snyder cut of Justice League! Hundreds of thousands of fans were clamoring for it this week. The core cast aside from Cavill — who could well respond soon — all want it.
It can’t be overstated how much business this big franchise with iconic characters can bring in. Releasing a Snyder cut in theaters is too expensive to distribute and harder to profit on by itself.
Streaming on HBO Max is the perfect home for the Justice League Snyder cut. #ReleaseTheSnyderCut!