When Zack Snyder's Justice League was officially announced, the belief was that all it would take to finish the filmmaker's four-hour assembly cut were some visual effects. Instead, over $70 million is being sunk into the project, with reshoots adding new scenes and characters as the film becomes a four-part event series instead of a one-off feature.
It's strange for a studio to acknowledge that the version of a film they released in theaters was a bomb, and spending more money to finish a project they already made a loss on is unheard of.
Observer has run a story questioning Warner Bros.'s decision to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut, and Comscore's Paul Dergarabedian shared a compelling theory about the studio wanting to stay in business with Zack Snyder. That may come as a shock, but it's likely his decision to make Army of the Dead for Netflix (which has already spawned plans for a prequel and animated spinoff) has led to Warner Bros. realising that they don't want to lose the director to a rival streaming service.
"Everyone looks at studios as these monolithic financially motivated entities, but when you see something like this it tells you that more is going on," Dergarabedian explains. "There’s an X-factor to consider. 'Do we want this person to work elsewhere or do we want keep them in-house?'"
"If it doesn’t make hard financial or objective financial sense on its face, then there are subjective motivations and factors at play," he continues. "They want to be in the Zack Snyder business just like Warners wants to be in the Christopher Nolan business. It’s long-term strategy."
It's obviously far too soon to say whether Snyder's future with Warner Bros. will include more DC films.
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