No more gripes and ‘shoulda-coulda-woulda’ speculation; get an extended look at the director’s true vision for the film he stepped away from in 2017, as it finally comes to HBO Max on March 18.
After Joker reveals, better Joker reveals, and Ray Fisher removing himself from the DC franchise, HBO Max has just released an official trailer for the much ballyhooed and highly anticipated Justice League Snyder Cut, also known as Zack Snyder's Justice League, director Zack Snyder’s new version of his infamous DC film project. The original 2017 Justice League release was finished by Joss Whedon, who stepped in after Snyder left the film during editing because of his daughter’s tragic suicide. Under pressure from Warner to lighten the film’s tone and cut down its run-time, Whedon did numerous re-writes and re-shoots. The film was released to disappointing reviews and marginal box office success.
Against all odds, Warner and Snyder eventually re-teamed, with a reported $70 million spent on additional re-shooting and visual effects. According to Insider.com, the new Max Original Film hits audiences without any Whedon material; Snyder has worked off the cut he left when he exited the production in February 2017. There’s a new villain, Darkseid, one of DC’s most heinous who never appeared in the 2017 film. At a whopping four-hours, Snyder’s cut is twice as long as the original, promising DC fans a huge new batch of earth-saving Justice League action true to the director’s original vision.
In the new film, determined to ensure Superman’s (Henry Cavill) ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) aligns forces with Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) with plans to recruit a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions. The task proves more difficult than Bruce imagined, as each of the recruits must face the demons of their own pasts to transcend that which has held them back, allowing them to come together, finally forming an unprecedented league of heroes. Now united, Batman (Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) may be too late to save the planet from Steppenwolf, DeSaad and Darkseid and their dreadful intentions.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is directed by Snyder, with a screenplay by Chris Terrio, story by Terrio & Snyder and Will Beall, based on characters from DC and Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The film’s producers are Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, with executive producers Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Wesley Coller, Jim Rowe, Curtis Kanemoto, Terrio and Ben Affleck.
The film stars Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, and J.K. Simmons.
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
