Zack Snyder’s Justice League: how new HBO release differs from the 2017 theatrical cut directed by Joss Whedon
- After a prolonged fan campaign to ‘Release the Snyder Cut’, a four-hour director’s cut will be streamed on HBO Max, and HBO Go in Asia. So what’s different?
- Superman is mostly absent, Batman doesn’t emerge until halfway through, there’s a big reveal about Steppenwolf, and Ray Fisher’s Cyborg gets more screen time
But after original director Zack Snyder, the franchise’s primary architect up to that point, left the project during post-production following a family tragedy, his dark and brooding vision was deemed too downbeat, and Avengers director Joss Whedon was brought in to oversee a comprehensive rewrite and reshoot.
What emerged was a Frankenstein-like hodgepodge of goofy humour, sanitised violence, and digitally removed moustaches that was widely rejected by fans and audiences alike.
Following a prolonged, fanatical and occasionally even toxic fan campaign to “Release the Snyder Cut”, Warner Brothers acquiesced and Snyder was allowed to complete his original version, at an additional cost of US$70 million, according to industry reports.
This week, Snyder’s four-hour director’s cut of Justice League will start streaming exclusively on HBO Max in the United States (and on HBO Go in a range of Asian territories). So how does it differ from the version you saw – or quite possibly did not see, judging by its relatively poor box office performance – back in 2017?
Put simply, a lot. Whedon appears to have used only about an hour of Snyder’s original footage for his two-hour movie, meaning that at least three quarters of this epic new version is seeing the light of day for the first time.
Right off the bat (no pun intended), Snyder’s film looks very different. It is presented in the open matt 1.43:1 aspect ratio, used in IMAX cinemas, and gives the image more height than does a traditional widescreen format.