Should Warner Bros #releasethesnydercut?

The #releasethesnydercut movement has been continuing for almost two years already. Yet, Warner Bros. hasn’t acknowledged it at all. What is keeping Warner Bros from releasing footage from the original, highly anticipated, Snyder cut of Justice League?

It’s no secret that what fans saw in theaters on November 17, 2017 was not the Justice League envisioned by famous director Zack Snyder as seen in the first trailer released. Warner Bros’s answer to combat Marvel’s famous Avengers: Infinity War was a complete disaster, as the studio had to overcome many reshoots and a change of director due to family issues.

The Snyder Cut movement started in May of 2017, when Zack Snyder had to leave the project due to the suicide of his adoptive daughter. At the time, there was news that Snyder had also been fired from the project due to Warner Bros. not liking his work. Marvel director, Joss Whedon, was then brought in to take over and do reshoots to “lighten up” the movie.

The reshoots with which Snyder was reportedly uninvolved, along with fan theories that Warner Bros. was rushing the film to meet a year-end release date, led people to believe the finished product had strayed from Snyder’s original vision.

After months of expectations, Justice League was a critical and box office failure. As time passed, fans blamed the departure of Snyder for the movie’s disappointment. However, in the past, Snyder was known to release his director cut, so fans hoped it would be the same this time around. This fueled the belief behind the #releasesnydercut.

Different from his rival company, Marvel, Zack Snyder visualized his films going in an arc with a definitive end in sight. Justice League 2017 was part of five film arc. However, from Aquaman and onward, it’s clear that the DCEU will stretch well beyond five films.

An online petition was made that asked for a director’s cut garnered over 179,000 signatures. This kicked off a full-on movement which, among other things, spurred a site called ForSnyderCut.com, which become a centralized hub for all Snyder Cut news. In January 2018, there was a “march” on Warner Bros.’s Burbank studio to show how serious fans were, along with YouTube videos, letters, and phone calls to Warner Bros.

On November 15, Zack Snyder posted pictures on the social media platform Vero that fans quickly believed were from the Snyder Cut: a still of Henry Cavill’s Superman and another of the character in what appears to be a resurrection scene that is different from the scene shown in the theatrical cut.

Adding on to that, former Batman actor, Ben Affleck, and Wonder Woman actress, Gal Gadot, tweeted #releasethesnydercut.

Not only are the actors showing their support for the “Snydercut”, but the cinematographers who worked with Snyder have spoken up and supported the movement as well.

Former Justice League cinematographer Fabian Wagner revealed that the reshoots had over 80 pages of a script and that only 10% of Snyder’s original work actually made it into theaters.

Josh H., a junior who has heard about the Snyder Cut movement, says: “What Warner Bros. has done to Zack Snyder is just unacceptable and disrespectful, as they just threw his work into the trash. However, I’m trying not to be too hopeful for the cut because I don’t want to be disappointed if the cut does get released.”

As a supporter of the #releasethesnydercut movement, I believe that Snyder’s work deserves to be released. After hearing so many things about the cut, I feel disappointed in Warner Bros. for ruining what could’ve been a DC’s Avengers: Endgame.

What do you think?