The Zack Snyder cut of Justice League has quickly become DCEU fans’ holy grail. After the underwhelming, mismatched disappointment that lumbered into cinemas last month, critics and audiences alike tore into a movie that was obviously the product of two conflicting directorial styles (and no small amount of studio interference). We know that some version of the movie was screened to Warner Bros. execs back in the spring of 2017 and apparently, they reacted poorly to it, fearing a repeat of the Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice critical evisceration.
Many are hoping that there’s enough of Snyder’s footage lying around for it to be included on the Blu-ray/DVD – with an online petition for WB to release it gaining over 160,000 signatures in just a couple of weeks. But is there even a completed Snyder cut that could be released? Justice League DP Fabian Wagner isn’t quite sure, and you’d think if anyone would have seen it he would.
In an interview with Collider, he explained the following:
“I never got to see the final cut that Zack had done, if he ever had done a final cut – I think he might have done, but I’m not sure.”
That doesn’t sound overly positive, does it? I thought the theatrical cut of Justice League was a real dog’s dinner of a movie, and while I’m not sure a Zack Snyder cut would fix every flaw in the film, it’s got to be a damn sight better than what we got last month.
A couple of things stand in the way of us seeing it, though, if it even does exist. Firstly, Warner Bros. would have to plow more money into the movie, and given that it might not even turn a profit when all’s said and done, that’s a big ask for them. Secondly, and to my mind more seriously, the studio would have to admit that they really screwed up the post-production on Justice League and frankly, I don’t see the executives’ egos allowing that.
Still, we live in hope. Maybe one day. Maybe.