If you were hoping that the positive critical reception to Zack Snyder's Justice League might prompt a change in heart from studio Warner Bros., which makes DC's superhero movies, things don't sound too positive.
When asked about the possibility of his 'SnyderVerse' of films continuing – the subject of a fan campaign – the director doesn't sound remotely positive about the possibility.
"I would think about it this way: yes, Warner Bros. has been aggressively anti-Snyder if you will," Snyder told the YouTube channel Jake's Takes. "What can I say? Clearly, they're not interested in my take. But I would also say that they certainly weren't interested in – I would have said originally – in my take on Justice League. They certainly made decisions about that."
'Aggressively anti-Snyder' is certainly a strong way of putting it. The lack of any continuation to Snyder's movies isn't a surprise at this point – in a New York Times report promoting DC's future slate, studio executives apparently referred to the Snyder Cut project as a "storytelling cul-de-sac" – that is, a road that doesn't go anywhere.
Still, Snyder doesn't rule out his involvement in any future projects involving DC characters. In fact, he still hopes Warner Bros. will change his mind.
" I love the characters and I love the worlds and I think it's an amazing place to make a movie. It's glorious IP. There's that. I don't know what could be done as you go forward other than, the fan movement is so strong, the fan community intention is so pure, and I really have huge respect for it. I would hope that cooler heads would prevail with them and they would see that there's this massive fandom who wants more of that. But who knows what they'll do."
Snyder's next movie, Army of the Dead, lands on Netflix on May 21.
Analysis: Political, or simply the right decision?
Warner Bros' future plans could theoretically include further works from Snyder if they wanted to do so. The studio has committed to a 'Multiverse' vision, that allows different versions of characters to appear on the big screen without contradicting each other – that's seemingly the crux of what 2022's Flashpoint movie will entail, as it's rumored to feature both the Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck versions of Batman.
If that's Warner's plan, then, it's not like Snyder's take on DC's characters necessarily has to be completed. But there are other factors to think about, here. For example, Zack Snyder's Justice League did not appear on the big screen – just its original, terrible 2017 incarnation. People had to seek the new cut out on either HBO Max, Sky or VOD.
Considering the expense of making a superhero movie on this scale, the economics of making a sequel on the same level are probably tricky to work out.
Then there's the other possibility: that Warner simply doesn't want Snyder's era of DC movies to continue, which seems to be what the director is alluding to, here. His wording certainly makes it seem like the director and studio have parted ways.
If that's the case, the burden is now on Warner Bros to prove it can actually make something better than Snyder. The critical reception to his cut of Justice League may cast a long shadow – so from The Suicide Squad to The Batman to Flashpoint, these movies better be good. Otherwise, we might see Snyder's name brought up a lot over the coming years.
