Zack Snyder's Justice League

[School of Movies 2021]

After the moderate box office takings and middling-to-negative critical responses to Man of Steel and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Warner Bros. became increasingly worried that they had placed the DC Expanded Universe in the hands of a director who appealed to an increasingly niche crowd who would not make them the billions of dollars they wanted.

Seeking to just get the third film finished quickly and cheaply in a way that would appeal to the middle, so that they could course-correct for later financial investments WB relieved Snyder of directorial duties (which coincided with family tragedy) and hired Joss Whedon to magic the footage they had into an Avengers-level success. The result delighted few (we covered it at the end of 2017).

Then after years of online demands, and a pandemic which made traditional filmmaking extremely difficult, Warner invested a sizable additional chunk of change into the prospect of Snyder restoring his version. The resultant four-hour opus was utilised to upsell an online subscription service. The niche audience were delighted.