Warner Bros. and Zack Snyder used to go hand-in-hand, but the creative partnership between studio and filmmaker now appears to have reached an end. Not only is Netflix’s upcoming Army of the Dead the first movie from the director that hasn’t been produced or distributed by WB in seventeen years, but he even admitted that the company doesn’t want to work with him anymore.
Presumably, a lot of that has to do with the continued fan campaigns surrounding his four-hour cut of Justice League, which continues to dominate the cultural conversation almost two months after premiering on HBO Max. WB have been adamant in their desire to step away from the SnyderVerse ever since the theatrical cut of the pic flopped at the box office, so there’s perhaps a thought process where the boardroom believes people will eventually move on if they distance themselves from the DCEU’s architect.
In a new interview, Snyder revealed his frustrations at Warner Bros. sitting on their hands and doing nothing when it comes to continuing the mythology he originated with Man of Steel in the summer of 2013, and he also had some harsh words for his former employers.
“Warner Bros. has been aggressively anti-Snyder if you will. What can I say? Clearly, they’re not interested in my take. But I would also say that they certainly weren’t interested in, I would have said originally, in my take on Justice League. They certainly made decisions about that.
I love the characters, and I love the worlds, and I think it’s an amazing place to make a movie. It’s glorious IP. So there’s that. I don’t know what could be done as you go forward other than I think the fan movement is so strong, and the fan community, their intention is so pure, and I really have this huge respect for it. I would hope that cooler heads would prevail with the studio and they would see that there’s this massive fandom that wants more of that. But who knows what they’ll do?”
The chances of the SnyderVerse continuing look to be growing more and more remote by the day, but we’ve seen enough from DC Films’ approach to its superhero properties over the years to know that the direction of the franchise can change on a dime, as it has done multiple times already. For now, though, fans should start getting used to the idea of Zack Snyder moving onto pastures new. And honestly, that may be for the best in the long run.