Zack Snyder’s Justice League trilogy might be the best shot at saving DC
As Zack Snyder creates a zombie universe for Netflix, many will wonder why Warner Bros have consistently turned down the opportunity to have more Justice League after the director’s cut was such a huge hit with fans around the globe.
Watch: Zack Snyder Breaks Down His Career
Warner’s reckless plan to catch up with Marvel
Warner Bros wanted to catch up to Marvel Studios as fast as possible which meant that they rushed to create the Justice League in the shortest amount of time. Thinking that Justice League was the answer to Marvel’s Avengers and would make them upwards of a billion dollars.
The studio initially wanted Christopher Nolan to construct this universe, but his appetite for superhero movies was full after making The Dark Knight trilogy. So he handed over the reins to his friend Zack Snyder, who he knew had a very intimate knowledge of the DC lore. Combined with the Watchmen/300 director’s incredible visual language meant that he could deliver a DC universe that would be able to compete with Marvel.
Snyder got caught in the crossfire
But Warner’s greed meant that they forgot a crucial fact from the rival’s journey. The initial Marvel movies had a very modest box office, which can’t be even compared to what they earned in MCU Phase 2 and 3. Warner ignored all of that and just wanted to make a billion from the onset, which is impossible. Marvel movies made billions on a long format storyline and hype from previous movies.
Ridiculous budgets without much planning
So this reckless decision-making meant that they pumped an insane amount of money in Snyder’s DC projects. Man of Steel was made on a budget of 250 million dollars which seems pretty high for a 2013 movie. The sequel Batman Vs Superman was made on an insane 300 million budget, while the infamous Justice League production cost Warners more of 400 million.
These budgets are just too high for movies that set up a franchise, for example, Marvel’s Avengers Endgame and Infinity war were produced on a collective budget of 500 million.
DC has no direction without Zack Snyder
But the truth of the matter is, even if Snyder’s movies underperformed according to Warner’s ridiculous standards, there isn’t an active fanbase for other movies. The only movies to make around a billion were Aquaman and Wonder Woman which resulted from Snyder’s casting and storylines. Wonder Woman 1984 was disappointing and most of the other DC movies have been pretty average.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League brought around hype and excitement rarely seen with DC films. And it is universally very well received with it being Warner’s highest-rated DC film after The Dark Knight.
Without Snyder, DC films have no direction. They seem to be making a Flash movie without the focus on Flash and his emotional story and focusing on bringing back Michael Keaton’s batman to replace Ben Affleck. So while Warner might think it’s best to move away from Zack Snyder, it is possibly their best route to bring back Zack Snyder to make DC compete with other tentpole franchises.
