Zack Snyder Makes Huge Promise About His Cut Of Justice League
Everything you need to know about Zack Snyder's Justice League is in the title.
At the "Spotlight on Zack Snyder" panel aired as part of 2020's virtual fan convention Justice Con, the original Justice League director spoke about the impending release of his cut of the superhero ensemble flick. Released in November 2017, the theatrical version of Justice League was one that Avengers helmer Joss Whedon inherited from Snyder, who departed from the project during production following his daughter's death. Numerous reports have claimed and even confirmed that Whedon made drastic changes to what Snyder had already filmed; ordering reshoots, completing rewrites, changing plot points, adjusting character arcs, diminishing roles — the list goes on.
Many were displeased with the film Whedon handed in, and shortly after Justice League hit theaters, legions of DC fanatics began demanding studio Warner Bros. to release the Snyder Cut, believing there to be a finish version of Snyder's vision for the film just lying around. A little under three years later, Warner Bros. confirmed in May 2020 that it was doing just that: planning to debut Snyder's cut of Justice League on the HBO Max streaming platform in 2021.
Everyone's been wondering what to expect from Zack Snyder's Justice League, and at his special Justice Con panel, the director made a big, bold promise: The Snyder Cut of Justice League will feature absolutely zero footage that Whedon shot.
The way in which Snyder phrased this announcement was worthy of laughter, applause, or a delightful combination of the two. "I would destroy the movie — I would set it on fire – before I would use a single frame that I did not photograph," the director said. "That is a f***ing hard fact. I literally would blow that thing up."
Zack Snyder's Justice League will be entirely his own vision
Of course, Snyder's cut of Justice League will still share some of the same footage included in the theatrical version. The only way around that would be to shoot an entirely new movie — and while some fans would probably be all for that, it isn't financially responsible or even feasible in our current world given all the productions that have been shut down. In short, the only scenes from Whedon's Justice League that will be included in Snyder's Justice League are Snyder-shot sequences that Whedon "borrowed" from the OG director. (Got all that?) Snyder reiterated that he doesn't know exactly which scenes those are because he still hasn't seen the theatrical cut of Justice League.
"Anything you see in this movie that reminds you of the theatrical release — which, again, famously, I literally have never seen — would be because that was a thing that I had done, [which] was being borrowed for whatever that Frankenstein's monster was that you guys got in the theater," Snyder told the panel's moderating team.
Sharp as Snyder's comments were, they further prove his dedication to finally getting his exact vision for Justice League out into the world. The filmmaker previously told The Hollywood Reporter that he and his wife-slash-producing-partner Deborah are pouring their hearts and souls into the new version of the movie — bolstered by a reported $20 to $30 million financial endowment from Warner Bros. to get the job done. To complete Zack Snyder's Justice League, the Snyders and their postproduction team will score and cut the film – plus "add new and finish old visual effects" and potentially even bring actors back to "record additional dialogue," according to THR.
In Snyder's own words, the final product will be totally different from what was shown in theaters.
"It will be an entirely new thing, and, especially talking to those who have seen the released movie, a new experience apart from that movie," Snyder told THR, adding that releasing the Snyder Cut couldn't have happened without the support from Justice League fans. "Clearly, this wouldn't be happening without them."
Zack Snyder's Justice League is scheduled to hit HBO Max sometime in 2021. An exact release date hasn't yet been announced.