Zack Snyder’s Justice League: Why It’s Better Than the Joss Whedon Cut

Justice League (2017) was slated to be the third installment in Zack Synder's Superman and Batman films. Snyder would eventually depart the film, leaving Avengers director Joss Whedon in charge of what would become a pretty subpar film. A film so bad that producers Christopher Nolan and Deborah Snyder made a pact to make sure Zach Snyder never watched Whedon’s final film.

For years after its release, hardcore Snyder fans demanded that Warner Bros. release the original edit of the film without any of Whedon’s influence. Dubbed the “#snydercut” on social media, Warner Bros. was constantly mentioned in posts asking for the film to be released. In 2018, AT&T purchased Time Warner for $84 billion, which included the Warner Bros. studio and catalogue. It also gave AT&T control of WarnerMedia, the parent of HBO. Thus setting up an opportunity to cash in on fan demands, while also remaking content they own for an upcoming streaming service they would also control.

The new cut gave Snyder complete control, which he earned by giving up his own salary to make the film, and earned him a new budget to complete VFX sequences and shoot missing footage. The film is certainly one of the most unique releases ever, blending the “Directors Cut” and “Remake” into a bizarre retelling of a story that was never told. AT&T launched HBO Max in May of 2020, but its biggest title, and most anticipated release, would be Zach Snyder’s Justice League (2021), which finally launched March 18th.

The distribution game is all online. After the rapid adoption of new streaming services made available during the COVID-19 pandemic, every studio and media conglomerate is fighting for a piece of the revenue. Where Netflix reigned supreme for years, multiple platforms have popped up, creating a new Wild West of content platforms.

While Netflix is still the runaway leader worldwide with over 200 million subscribers across the globe, 73 million being in the USA as of 2020 new platforms are gaining ground quickly. Amazon Prime has been their only serious competitor for the past few years, with 150 million subscribers, but it’s not quite the same. Prime members mainly sign up for free shipping and other benefits, one being the video streaming platform with select exclusives and originals.

While other platforms rebrand most recently CBS All Access becoming Paramount+, which merged multiple Viacom brands with roughly 18 million subscribers HBO Max seems to be the one that’s talked about in league with Netflix and Disney+. There are multiple reasons behind this. Specifically, the HBO Max subscriber counts in convoluted. It’s hard to say how many subscriptions are solely for the HBO Max platform itself vs. how many users have access through existing cable packages, or AT&T bundles and offers.

To make a big splash, HBO Max invested an initial $30 million into Zach Snyder’s Justice League. The budget apparently ballooned to $70 million, but still the move is absolutely genius. If we look at Wonder Woman 1984, Warner Bros. spend $200 million to produce the film for theaters and it wound up premiering on HBO Max anyway. WW84‘s release caused HBO Max subscription numbers to double for its premiere.

With the Snyder Cut, they get an even larger spectacle film (the original Justice League cost $300 million), which was considered a flop in theaters. Pump another $70 million into the film and get a boatload of press for the past year, and HBO Max got A-list actor power for a bargain.

This is just the beginning. With the entire Warner Bros. lineup premiering on HBO Max, they have set themselves up for massive subscription gains based on the large variety of content. Family films like Tom & Jerry and Space Jam: A New Legacy, the Oscar-nominated Judas and the Black Messiah, and action blockbusters like Mortal Kombat, Godzilla vs. Kong, The Suicide Squad, and The Matrix 4 are all slated for release this year.