Why Justice League's Gal Gadot and Ben Affleck are tweeting 'Release The Snyder Cut'
Is it time to finally see what could have been with Justice League?
The Flash, Batman and Wonder Woman in Justice League.
If you've been paying attention to Twitter over the last 24 hours you may have noticed the #releasethesnydercut hashtag. You may also have noticed that both Ben Affleck and Gal Godot have tweeted out the hashtag.
So why is that? What is the "Snyder cut" and why is this such a big deal?
Let's start with the basics. The Snyder cut is about Justice League, the superhero movie starring Gal Godot, Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill. That movie was supposed to be DC's version of Avengers, the movie that brought Marvel's most popular superhero franchises together in a blockbuster cinematic event.
It didn't quite play out that way.
Justice League did OK at the box office, making $657.9 million worldwide against a budget of $300 million, but it reviewed terribly and fans did not like it.
So what's the Snyder cut?
Well, Justice League famously had a last-minute change of staff. Zack Snyder was initially directing Justice League before being replaced by Joss Whedon during post-production. Justice League was eventually released, wasn't that great, and fans were left to wonder what could have been.
But here's the thing: according to Zack Snyder himself earlier this year, a Zack Snyder version of Justice League does exist and Jason Momoa, who plays Aquaman, has seen that version and said in early November "I think the public needs to see it."
A #releasetheysnydercut hashtag has been trending on and off for a year now. More recently, over the weekend, it started trending again, mainly because of the approaching two-year anniversary of Justice League's release. No big deal, right?
Only this time the stars of Justice League have gotten involved.
First Gal Gadot tweeted in support:
#ReleaseTheSnyderCut pic.twitter.com/wssMmlPqEK
— Gal Gadot (@GalGadot) November 17, 2019
Then Ben Affleck:
— Ben Affleck (@BenAffleck) November 17, 2019
That's a big deal. That's the two biggest stars of the original movie taking part in an online grass roots campaign to get a long-hyped cut of Justice League movie publicly released.
Earlier this year Snyder said it's up to Warner Bros. to release his cut. However, up until this point, Warner Bros. has remained completely silent on its existence, or any potential plans to release it.
It's all a little bit insane. Is Snyder's cut a better version of Justice League compared to Whedon's? Potentially. But Snyder also directed Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Neither were exactly classics of the genre. Part of the allure around the Snyder cut is the fact that Richard Donner, when making Superman II, was placed in a similar situation and was finally able to release his own, final version of the movie. Superman II, for many, was one of the best early superhero movies.
Will Warner Bros. buckle and release the Snyder cut? Time will tell, but now that both of its main stars have tweeted in support of the campaign, the pressure has never been higher.
