Would The Zack Snyder Justice League Been Successful?

[Wandering_Wand]

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.

Whoops, I didn't even read that part earlier, thanks for clarifying. Not sure how much that changes my post overall, maybe a little but not worth going back and editing.
I don't know that Snyder's Justice League would need to be 3.6 hours long if Warner Bros. also let him finish his planned 5 film arc. That's a whole other can of worms to discuss, but should probably be mentioned at least, because WB scrapping those plans led to re-writes and new plans for Justice League, both when Zack was planning/filming it and when Whedon took over.

No, BvS was one of the reasons JL bombed.

As much as I enjoy and appreciate BvS (and always will, particular the UE), this is really the single biggest driver of JL being DOA. BvS remains the only movie to not break $1 billion after scoring more than $150 million ($166) in its opening DOM weekend. Keep in mind that movie made something ridiculous like $450 million worldwide on its opening weekend, basically half of its entire BO run in its first three days.

[SiegePerilous02]

It may have been slightly better reviewed since it would be a more coherent movie.
It still likely would have bombed though. BvS soured a lot of people on this vision, this likely being more of the same wouldn't draw people back in. They should have pulled the plug on this immediately if at all possible and took their time with course correcting.

[Lightning Rider]

I answered no but the poll question is slightly different. It might have been better received than the JL we got, but probably not "certified fresh" and Avengers-level box office.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

I think it would have been more successful in every way -- even with the longer running time.

That's because it would have been a better movie. Therefore, it would have had a bigger audience, which would offset the longer running time.

All the Joss Whedon stuff sucked, and the Henry Cavill reshoots just looked inept. I can't believe they actually released it to theaters.

I'm not saying it would have made a billion dollars. There's no way that would happen after the polarizing reaction to BvS, but I do believe it would have made more than $230 million domestic.

[Jackalope89]

Nope.

Man of Steel, despite how a select group love it, garnered quite a bit of negative reviews. BvS, even though I like the extended version, had more issues. And from the leaks I've seen of Snyder's JL, it was even more doom and gloom. At least the Whedon version, the mess that it was, ended with a note of optimism.

[phantom1592]

Nope.

Man of Steel, despite how a select group love it, garnered quite a bit of negative reviews. BvS, even though I like the extended version, had more issues. And from the leaks I've seen of Snyder's JL, it was even more doom and gloom. At least the Whedon version, the mess that it was, ended with a note of optimism.

Exactly.

Whedon wasn't the reason it bombed... Snyder's personal issues is why it bombed... It bombed because at that point people had given up. I couldn't get anyone to go with me because of how much they hated BVS and MOS. More of the same wouldn't have been more successful.

If anything the more lighthearted scenes helped to elevate the movies that came after it. But yeah... a 3 hour dark and gritty movie that ends on a cliffhanger for ANOTHER Dark and Gritty movie??

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Well, we don't know the full extent of Snyder's plans -- at least not from what I've read.

Since his Justice League was to be a two-parter, maybe the first part would indeed have been doom-and-gloom -- there was a lot of that in Infinity War -- certainly for a Marvel movie.

But Part 2 likely would have been the heroes rallying and defeating Darkseid, which would have ended his 5 movie arc on a positive note.

I think the Internet jumped the gun with Snyder -- as the Internet does with everything when they shoot their mouths off prematurely on just about every subject imaginable.

If you just read the Wolfman/Perez Crisis on Infinite Earths and stopped at issue 7 or 8, you would have felt that the series was all death and destruction. You had to read all the way to the end to see the new universe that was created in its wake.

Judging a movie series (or any story in any format) by chapter 1 is just as ill-advised.

And I still say that if Snyder's movies were animated features, people would have been praising them up one side and down the other at how "adult" they were. It's always funny to me how comics and animation fans want their cartoons to be serious and their movies to be lighter in tone.

Also, it's not a "select group" of people that love Man of Steel. It has basically the same audience Rotten Tomatoes score as Aquaman does.

[phonogram12]

No, BvS was one of the reasons JL bombed.

Exactly this.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I liked the Justice league movie but found it safe and bland. I can see the snyder cut being more provocative but not making more than the other two.

Regardless of Snyder or Whedon I don't think Steppenwolf was a good choice. I rather they tried the Injustice league.

[The Darknight Detective]

IMO, the finished product alienated both fans and non-fans of Snyder. If they had allowed either Snyder or Whedon to have complete control of Justice League, again, IMO, the results would have been better artistically and financially.

[SiegePerilous02]

Well, we don't know the full extent of Snyder's plans -- at least not from what I've read.

Since his Justice League was to be a two-parter, maybe the first part would indeed have been doom-and-gloom -- there was a lot of that in Infinity War -- certainly for a Marvel movie.

But Part 2 likely would have been the heroes rallying and defeating Darkseid, which would have ended his 5 movie arc on a positive note.

I think the Internet jumped the gun with Snyder -- as the Internet does with everything when they shoot their mouths off prematurely on just about every subject imaginable.

If you just read the Wolfman/Perez Crisis on Infinite Earths and stopped at issue 7 or 8, you would have felt that the series was all death and destruction. You had to read all the way to the end to see the new universe that was created in its wake.

Judging a movie series (or any story in any format) by chapter 1 is just as ill-advised.

And I still say that if Snyder's movies were animated features, people would have been praising them up one side and down the other at how "adult" they were. It's always funny to me how comics and animation fans want their cartoons to be serious and their movies to be lighter in tone.

Also, it's not a "select group" of people that love Man of Steel. It has basically the same audience Rotten Tomatoes score as Aquaman does.

More doom and gloom on top of BvS would have been way too much. It had already turned off the casual audiences. And you can't treat film installments like monthly comic books. The MCU does to an extent, but a lot of their darker storylines happened in later films after they had built up their characters and got audiences invested. They were fully formed characters before they got to that point. Snyder's DCEU films relies heavily on people having prior love for their characters that they bring into the movie with them while the movie itself doesn't do much to make you care about these specific versions before it starts its half assed deconstructions of them.

These movies are expensive as hell and can't rely on the patience of a casual audience. They have real life to deal with, they want a movie to entertain them and provide a temporary escape. They are not going to stick around like we (often stupidly) do with a monthly serialized comic to see how it pans out. Most of the time we even end up disappointed when it all wraps up. A five movie arc to get to a fully formed Superman, that has Batman plotting to murder him, a dead Lois and Darkseid induced brainwashing along the way is fucking stupid as hell and the studio should never have green lit it or foisted all this on Snyder only to play the blame game when it inevitably blew up in their faces.

[phonogram12]

I liked the Justice league movie but found it safe and bland. I can see the snyder cut being more provocative but not making more than the other two.

Regardless of Snyder or Whedon I don't think Steppenwolf was a good choice. I rather they tried the Injustice league.

I honestly found the movie "okay," which maybe the reason I found it even more disappointing. The first big screen appearance of the JL should feel like a big deal. Whether that's because that's just how great the movie is or how hilariously bad, it should feel like a big deal.

This one just kinda felt like "meh."

[jetengine]

With no interference from the studio your getting a grim dark movie roughly 3 and a half hours long (including trailers) with a 10-15 minuite gap between showings for screen cleaning (popcorn/wrappers etc). Nearly FOUR hours. Your getting 3 MAYBE 4 showings in a day. Unless WB leans on Cinema chains then they'll isolate it once it even hints at slowing down and dump it in their smallest screens so they can push through Ragnarok or any other more stable reliable shorter running movies. This is if it isnt a runaway success which I HIGHLY doubt.

[Holt]

No. A significant factor in the failure of the theatrical cut was all those people who felt burnt by Batman v Superman not coming back to watch the sequel.

[phantom1592]

I think the Internet jumped the gun with Snyder -- as the Internet does with everything when they shoot their mouths off prematurely on just about every subject imaginable.

If you just read the Wolfman/Perez Crisis on Infinite Earths and stopped at issue 7 or 8, you would have felt that the series was all death and destruction. You had to read all the way to the end to see the new universe that was created in its wake.

Judging a movie series (or any story in any format) by chapter 1 is just as ill-advised.

People didn't judge a movie series by chapter one. It was chapter 3. It's like watching a 10-12 episode TV series and giving up around the 4-5th hour. That's PLENTY of time to make an informed decision as to whether you want to continue.