The Snyder Cut of ‘Justice League’ is a gamble for Warner Bros.

The highly anticipated four-hour director’s cut of “Justice League” arrived on HBO Max on Thursday.

Composed of hours of unused footage and cut along with newly filmed scenes, the Snyder Cut is an anomaly in the entertainment industry. Driven by years of fan-driven social media campaign, Zack Snyder got a second chance to make his version of Justice League.

WarnerMedia, which is owned by AT&T, saw the fiery crusade for Snyder’s official version of the film as a way to appease ardent fans and provide its streaming service HBO Max with exclusive content.

However, there is a risk that Justice League will not pay back the dividends WarnerMedia requires. The film puts on sequels that DC fans may never get to see, meaning that even if it manages to attract subscribers for the month of March, there’s no promise that new DC-related content will be on the horizon for the streaming service. stay. registrations around.

Initial estimates set the price tag for Snyder’s second shot at $ 20 million to $ 30 million, because many of the computer-generated images were unfinished. However, more recent estimates suggest that WarnerMedia could have spent $ 70 million or more on the project as Snyder brought back several actors to create new material. It’s unclear whether that figure includes marketing spend.

WarnerMedia declined to comment on the project’s financial terms.

The cost could be justified if WarnerMedia uses the film to acquire subscribers and encourage enough current subscribers to stick with the service, media and streaming analyst Dan Rayburn said.

What can help is that HBO Max released several high-profile releases on its platform in March and early April. On March 31, “Godzilla v. Kong” will arrive on the service and on April 16, “Mortal Kombat” will be released. They each spend about a month on HBO Max before moving onto video on demand for a rental fee.

This strategy of a consistent, steady stream of new content can help retain subscribers.

And then there are the fans. While Snyder and DC Films president Walter Hamada have both said that this updated “Justice League” will not spin-off or automatically launch a sequel, the film states Warner Bros. able to regain some goodwill.

“I certainly think fans will be pleased,” said Erik Davis, editor-in-chief of Fandango.

Davis, who could see the new “Justice League” before it launched on HBO Max, said the Snyder Cut is a “much better version of the movie.”

The Snyder Cut basically erased co-writer and co-director Joss Whedon from the movie. Whedon had been brought on board after executives refused to allow Snyder’s first shot of the film and took over when Snyder left the project after his daughter’s death.

Whedon swallowed Snyder’s portion of 214 minutes and imbued it with moments of levity, something Warner Bros. wanted to emulate the comic style that was successful in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Since Whedon’s version changed so much of Snyder’s work, fans have clamored to see the director’s cut of “Justice League”, believing it to be the purest version of the movie. In May 2020, WarnerMedia fulfilled that wish and invested in bringing Snyder back to finish it.

While fans will be happy with Snyder’s cut, there’s a big flaw in Warner Bros. ‘plan to release this movie.

When Snyder was developing “Justice League” over five years ago, it was expected that the DC Extended Universe would continue to expand with this cast in the same way that the MCU had evolved. Solo films would be made into team films. Ben Affleck would have his own stand-alone feature and Snyder was already talking about a sequel to “Justice League”.

However, that plan is completely different in 2021. All of the cameos and set-ups in Snyder’s version of the movie will likely never be seen by DC fans.

Affleck may be attached to the upcoming “Flash” movie, but it is uncertain whether he will star in a DC project afterward. Not to mention, Warner Bros. has already moved on with a new Batman movie starring Robert Pattinson, one that doesn’t tie in with any of the previous movies released by the studio.

As for Superman, Henry Cavill is still attached to the role, but it’s not clear when and where the character will appear next.

And Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg, has a ragged relationship with the studio. The actor accused Whedon of on-set harassment and an investigation was launched. Fisher also had harsh things to say about DC’s head Hamada, who he claimed made Whedon’s actions possible.

As such, Fisher has said he will not be participating in a movie related to Hamada. So Warner Bros. would have to recast the role if they wanted to put Cyborg back in the fold for a team-up.

Warner Bros. ‘ The decision to fund and release this new “Justice League” may reassure fans, but it does nothing to advance the franchise’s cinematic universe.

Disney, owner of Marvel, has used its streaming service Disney + to expand its theatrical releases. Shows like “WandaVision”, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” and “Loki” are all directly connected to the MCU and must be viewed to understand all the nuances of upcoming feature films.

The Snyder Cut does not. It exists in a vacuum.

As for the hope that fans will flock to HBO Max to see the film, which will increase the number of subscribers, the point is that their interest will last.

‘Is it a good thing? Perhaps.’ said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Boxoffice.com. “As a one-time release, the film may temporarily boost HBO Max subscriptions, but streamers are the strongest with episodic and weekly content that keeps casual consumers coming back for binge after binge.”

Robbins noted that “Justice League” is a niche film because the audience demographics are young and male. So while it’s likely to lure DC fans, it might not do much to put the needle across the board on subscription requests unless they’re drawn to other HBO Max content.

“Justice League alone may not be the answer to the company’s future needs, especially as the DC brand has already begun creatively in other directions, but it could succeed as a symbolic valentine for fans,” said Robbins.

AT&T appears to have confidence in HBO Max. The company increased its subscriber projections last week to reach between 120 million and 150 million for HBO Max and HBO by the end of 2025.

In October 2019, the company set a target of reaching 50 million US subscribers by 2025, a relatively low bar given that premium cable channel HBO already had about 33 million subscribers prior to the streaming service’s launch.

Still, there seems to be a bit of a missed opportunity in the release of “Justice League” before HBO Max expands worldwide. The platform will be released in approximately 60 markets outside of the US this year and will launch a cheaper version with ads in June. Justice League brought in most of its $ 658 million in ticket sales internationally. It was only $ 230 million at the US box office.

WarnerMedia could easily have used “Justice League” as a lure for international launches. Instead, it is likely that the film, which will be streamed in high-definition state-side, will be a prime target for international digital pirates.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal owns Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes.