The beautiful, and terrible, thing about the internet is the way it can bring people together. In the world of pop culture, this means fans of any given property uniting behind their favorite characters and stories. Fan movements are nothing new to the internet, but none have them have had quite the presence of those campaigning for the "Snyder Cut" of Justice League. Now, that movement has some money behind it.
Following a fundraising campaign, a bus stop advertisement has materialized in San Diego that uses the #ReleasetheSnyderCut hashtag that fans have built up on Twitter. The ad contains numerous quotes from various Justice League cast and crew that have expressed support, to one degree or another, for Zack Snyder's original vision.
from r/DC_Cinematic
You have to say this about fans looking for the Snyder Cut, they're devoted. Fans raised money among themselves to pay for the bus ad. Based on the Reddit post this is the first of several advertisements that will be hitting San Diego during this week's San Diego Comic-Con.
In a classy move, only half the money raised is being used to promote the Snyder Cut. The other half was donated to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The suicide of Zack Snyder's daughter was the reason the director left the production of Justice League in the first place, so it's nice to see the fans supporting not only his directorial vision. but also doing their part to prevent future family tragedies.
When Zack Snyder left the production of Justice League, Joss Whedon was brought in to handle the film's scheduled reshoots. The resulting film met with both lukewarm reviews and middling box office. Even amongst those who had been major fans of previous DC efforts like Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, there was a feeling that Justice League was lacking something. Those fans have wanted to see what a Justice League edited to meet Zack Snyder's personal vision would have looked like.
Not all of the discourse surrounding the Snyder Cut has been pleasant. Lots of the people calling for it have tried to organize protests and have inundated Warner Bros. executives with Twitter replies, but, for those people who feel passionately about it, this isn't the worst way to show that support.
Who knows, maybe it will even work. Fan support has helped prevent TV shows from being cancelled and has seen movies made that wouldn't otherwise have seen the light of day. There's clearly a devoted following here, the only question is whether or not there's enough money in that devoted following to justify the expense involved in producing the film.
I have to say I'm curious. After all this passion and mobilization, what would happen if the Snyder Cut actually existed? Would it actually meet the expectations of those that have been waiting for it? It certainly would be interesting to see just how different, or not, Justice League actually was.
Of course, there's been zero indication at this point from anybody in authority that there's even a possibility a new edit of Justice League could ever happen, so it's all a pretty long shot right now.
We'll have to wait and see just how this ad campaign works. One thing that does seem clear, even if it doesn't work, the "Release the Snyder Cut" crowd won't be dissuaded. Instead, they'll just move on to the next idea. This group is committed to a cause.
