While the fans rejoice the announcement of the long-awaited reunion of their favorite sitcom’s stars, there might be an opposite reaction to it. For the past two years, fans of DC Comics’ film Justice League (2017) have been campaigning to get the alternate cut to the film released worldwide. The cut referred to as Justice League: “Snyder Cut” has led to global activism on social media. In the past few months, after the film’s cast members joined the movement dubbed as #ReleaseTheSnyderCut, hopes of watching that version were sparked.
But, the recent announcement of Friends reunion may force us to take a step back from the movement. Let’s take a more in-depth look into the matter and see how Friends reunion would affect the high hopes of getting “Snyder Cut” released.
Failure of Justice League
Justice League had a troubled production at the time. After years of development hell and a planned film Justice League: Mortal shelved way back in 2009, the film was finally approved after fair response to Snyder’s Man of Steel (2013) and its follow-up Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). Zack Snyder had been the visionary of DCEU since the beginning and had several plans to expand the universe with a Justice League Trilogy.
Along with co-writer Chris Terrio, he penned down a draft with tens of references to DC mythos, characters, and comic-book-inspired sub-plots, maybe in the hope of having their vision approved. But, after an unfortunate family tragedy, Snyder stepped down from the film indefinitely.
Warner Bros. hired Joss Whedon, who previously directed The Avengers (2012), to finish the film. Whedon made critical changes to the final film. He added a bit more humor to the film, added a brighter tone to it, and did major CGI changes. The run-time was significantly reduced to less than 120 minutes.
When the film opened, it was a major commercial failure and critical disappointment. Whedon, who received screenwriting credits for his limited role as director, was majorly held responsible for the film’s failure.
What is “Snyder Cut”?
“Snyder Cut” is an unofficial name given to the alternate cut of the 2017 film Justice League. The term earlier came into limelight when it was revealed that Snyder had a different plan for the film. DC fans started an online petition in support of the film under a Twitter hashtag – #ReleaseTheSnyderCut. Many stars of the film, including Jason Momoa and Ray Fisher, joined in to support the release of “Snyder Cut.”
“Snyder Cut” is believed to have additional sub-plots within the script to give fans something to hold on to the franchise. Various actors, who actually shot for the film were scrapped from the final cut. This included Willem Dafoe (as “Nuidis Vulko”), Kiersey Clemons (as “Iris West”), and Ryan Zheng (as “Ryan Choi/Atom).
It was reported that the character of Gen. Calvin Swanwick (played by Harry Lennix) was planned to be revealed as J’onn J’onzz/Martian Manhunter, giving viewers a hint of proposed Green Lantern Corps. film. However, whether this part made the final draft of Snyder’s script is unknown.
During the activism for “Snyder Cut’s, the executives at Warner Bros. rejected the chances of “Snyder Cut’s release. While a few responses suggested that it’s a collective decision of Warner Bros. corporate leadership, the others said the Snyder’s version is not completed for an approved release.
Hopes Revived – #ReleaseTheSnyderCut Lives
By June 2018, Warner Bros. and AT&T (the parent company of HBO) had a merger. By July 2019, HBO had announced that it would launch its streaming service in 2020 ahead of Disney+ and Apple TV+.
In November 2019, on the second anniversary of Justice League’s release, stars Gal Gadot (who played “Wonder Woman”) and Ben Affleck (who played “Batman”) tweeted their individual stills from the film with a caption – #ReleaseTheSnyderCut. Snyder himself retweeted the pics. It sparked massive media coverage, and fans were rejoicing the fact that the “Snyder Cut” release may still be in the plan.
A few days passed, and Snyder revealed that his version of the film does exist. He posted a picture of cans reels that he claimed belonged to his version of the doomed superhero film. It was rumored in fan theories, that HBO might release the “Snyder Cut” with the launch of their streaming platform HBO Max.
Disney and Apple had its own content to boost up initial subscription sales for their streaming platforms. I personally thought that “Snyder Cut” could be a major marketing scheme to boost up response to HBO response.
A few more days later, “Snyder Cut” again made the news when it was revealed that the cut was 214 minutes long. This confirmed that Whedon has shred more than half the film’s original version.
However, I think that with the new Friends reunion announcement, “Snyder Cut” may be truly lost in the archives at Warner Bros.
Friends Reunion Announced
Three days ago, Friends cast members, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, Jennifer Anniston, Courtney Cox, and Lisa Kudrow, posted a picture on their Instagram handles with a caption – “It’s happening.” However, LeBlanc played a prank by posting a completely different picture, which gave more publicity to the news.
The members tagged each other in the post along with captioning HBO Max. This confirmed that the cast will reunite to film a special episode for HBO and will reprise their respective role from the series. The episode will stream on HBO Max along with the release of the entire original series of Friends on the HBO Max. This was possibly the reason Friends was pulled out of Netflix.
Fans are excited, even I am, but in the meanwhile, there are high chances that the plans for “Snyder Cut” are going to be shelved. How? Well…
Why may Friends kill “Snyder Cut” Hopes?
There is just one simple reason. Money! Film production is a business, and every business needs profit to thrive. Justice League was a financial failure despite having massive fan support, thanks to Whedon’s unprofessional decisions. For guys at Warner Bros., it was a wrong decision, which was terrible for business. This part alone puts the Justice League in a negative shade.
Warner Bros. and DC had wholly revamped their strategy for future DCEU projects just because Justice League didn’t work out. Why would a production house risk money for its re-release, only in the hope of getting a warmer response?
Friends, on the other hand, is an all-time hit and a favorite of fans. It’s the best sitcom ever made and even 25 years later, is watched and streamed by millions. The show’s legacy is such that it i widely accepted and applauded by a whole new generation even after all these years. This makes Friends a perfect selling point for HBO Max. It’s going to be a confirm hit.
People want to see their favorite actors reunite for the epic episode, and it has already gained massive publicity and free marketing. We do not have a fixed release date for HBO Max launch, but fans are already waiting for it because of that one picture that is going viral.
The “Snyder Cut” was going to be the selling point for HBO Max, but now Warner Bros. has a better plan. They are also spending millions on a new episode. Yes, it’s going to cost millions. They’ll pay the actors, produce an entire episode, and will definitely receive profitable subscription sales over the new streaming platform, which not to mention has to compete against Netflix, Apple, and Disney.
It’s a theory based on calculations, and I hope I turn out to be wrong as I am a part of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement as well. But given the comparatively lucrative deal Warner Bros. have with Friends, the hopes of “Snyder Cut” may have been crushed again.
Join The Movement:
If you’re a DC fan, join the movement for the “Snyder Cut” release by proving your commitment in the comments. If you’re a fan of Friends, then please tell us what you expect of the reunion. And for more from PopWrapped, join us on Instagram and Twitter and stay up to date with the latest pop-culture trends.
