Would The Zack Snyder Justice League Been Successful?

[Amadeus Arkham]

I have to ask if you think if Snyder had gotten to make Justice League the way he wanted without Studio interference and he never stepped down would’ve it have been successful at the box office? Or do you think it would’ve made no discernible difference and the movie would flop just the same?

[jennysparks]

I think it still would've fallen short of expectations.

[CRaymond]

Snyder's conception of DC superheroes was stylized to the point of not recognizing the ideal they're meant to represent. His style, no matter how much money and faith he might have cobbled behind it, was never going to be enough to surmount the expectations the public had when comparing it to the MCU movie machine.

That said, using Darkseid as a central antagonist when the MCU was building up Thanos was mind-bogglingly stupid.

[MadFacedKid]

From BvS too Justice League? Doubt it

If they left him alone and let him continue from MoS? Possibly, atleast I think I would of enjoyed it.

It went downhill for me with BvS you could tell it was shoehorned and wasn’t his initial plan. Atleast a lot of stuff weren’t. I think I would of enjoyed his interpretation but I know we probably would of got more off the wall concepts and changing to different characters. Which isn’t bad perse I guess and would be a way to distinguish it from the MCU where people make flashy superhero poses and joke about serious matters.

[kjn]

It might have been a better movie than we got, as in more coherent. But it wouldn't have been better received.

[superduperman]

There is absolutely no way to know the answer to this question. But given the criticism his other movies have come under, I would have to say no.

[Pinsir]

How do you quantify success?

>> Box Office? Maybe, but Zach Snyder films have never been billion dollar films though.
>> Critically? His films have never garnered much success with critics.
>> With the fanbase? The people who likes BvS would have liked the film more. The best parts of the JL film are the Zach Snyder bits (the intro is great for instance). However, the anti-Zach Snyder fans will not be appeased, but if we've learned anything from Rise of Skywalker its that you should appease to the fan base you have and not the ones you don't.

The only one that really matters is the third point, so yeah, probably.

[Cmbmool]

No...Despite his vision for the DCU, it just wasn't what audiences wanted when it comes to these heroes that aren't Batman. I mean Superman and Wonder Woman are suppose to be the sunnier side of heroism and Batman's the Dark Broody side. When everyone is depress, then you know something is wrong. Even Aquaman and the Flash have their own depressing moments in the film, although for the Flash I place the blame on the Geoff Johns retcon of his character's motivations.

[Superbat]

It would have been worse for the movie at the box office.

The longer run time would have made it flop even harder.

[Wandering_Wand]

Define "success."

Critically, it probably wouldn't have done any better than what it did. Legitimate arguments could be made either way on that, so we'll call that a wash and leave it even.

Financially, yes, I believe it would have been more successful than the theatrical release. Consider the following fact: Warner Bros. and Joss Whedon's reshoots were reported to have cost up to and possibly exceed $50 million on the film that already cost $250 million. Assuming it would have made the exact same amount that the theatrical release made, it's already more of a "success" on those grounds, end of debate. I have no reason to believe it would have made any less.


Edit: In response to the post above, Warner Bros. wouldn't have let him release a 214 mins. movie in theaters. It would have been edited and we would have very likely had a director's cut release for home. In fact, it was supposedly Tsujihara's mandate to have Joss cut the film down to 119 mins. to fill more show times.

[Superbat]

Edit: In response to the post above, Warner Bros. wouldn't have let him release a 214 mins. movie in theaters. It would have been edited and we would have very likely had a director's cut release for home. In fact, it was supposedly Tsujihara's mandate to have Joss cut the film down to 119 mins. to fill more show times.

The OP asked what would have happened if Snyder's version made it to theaters without studio interference. Without the studio interfering, the theater version would have been 214 minutes long or even longer because of the scenes Snyder didn't get to shoot.

[kjn]

Wandering_Wand raises an important point in that the Snydercut of Justice League likely would have been less expensive than the Whedon reshoots, and thus more profitable.

I considered that as well, but decided to omit that. First, Hollywood accounting is a thing, and the studios have done that into a fine art. Second, the financial success of a movie is highly tied to its gross, both in the public perception but also for the movie theaters. To the theaters, it doesn't matter if a movie cost $10 million or $150 million to make for the studio, as long as it fills theaters and moves the popcorn.

Another factor is that the Snydercut wouldn't have been made the target of mockery like the final Whedoncut. I'm especially thinking of the Cavillstache here.

[The Darknight Detective]

I think it would have at least broken even at the box office, but wouldn't have been a huge success.

[Godlike13]

No, BvS was one of the reasons JL bombed.

[Coal Tiger]

Snyder’s cut was over 3 hours long, which means less screenings per day, which probably means less box office.