It remains one of the most tantalizing mysteries in modern comic-book lore. How did Zack Snyder’s Justice League do on HBO Max in terms of streaming views and audience reach? Because the four-hour cut didn’t get a traditional theatrical release, normal metrics like a box-office figure can’t be pointed at to determine the film’s success. And many of Snyder’s fans who fought so hard for three years online to get the Snyder Cut released hoped that a massive wave of support would potentially convince Warner Bros. to “Restore the SnyderVerse” and allow the director to keep making movies in this world.
Only, no official numbers on The Snyder Cut ever were announced by the studio. And even one of the film’s producers, Charles Roven, has no clue how the movie performed.
Charles Roven has been backing DC Comics adaptations since 2005, when he got behind Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, and continued to back the rest of his trilogy. Roven went on to produce Man of Steel, Wonder Woman, the first Suicide Squad and more, keeping his fingers in multiple DC pots. CinemaBlend got the chance to speak with Roven ahead of James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, which he also produced, but when we asked him if he knew how the Snyder Cut of Justice League did on HBO Max, he admitted to not knowing anything for certain, explaining:
There still seems to be some ambiguity about how much -- and don't get me wrong, I'm really happy that Zack Snyder was finally able to get his vision out there in the way that he wanted to. And it was a great thing that the fans voiced that to help make that happen. But there seems to be some ambiguity about whether or not that was, from Warner Media’s point of view, a win. At least, I've not been able to figure it out. … I've heard different things about the streaming numbers, right? You have some independent companies that actually give some streaming figures, and they vary. So it's hard to understand the reality of what really happened. I know a lot of people really, really liked Zack's version. And obviously the amalgamators of what viewers’ feelings were, whether it's Rotten Tomatoes or Cinemascore (or) the critics, they've all touted it as being really great. But we really haven't heard anything in particular from Warner Brothers. They certainly haven't said it was bad, but they haven't said it was really great.
The silence from the studio end has inspired conspiracy theories from the active and vocal Snyder Cut community. Most believe that Warner Media isn’t sharing the numbers because the four-hour Justice League did too well, and to share that information while also agreeing not to follow up on it would be deemed foolish. The same people believe that if Justice League underperformed, the studio would be very quick to point out the fact that Snyder’s vision wasn’t nearly as popular as his fans claimed it would be. It doesn’t sound like we are going to know the truth any time soon… if at all.
This ambiguity is also hurting any hope for a release of the Ayer Cut of David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. When asked about that possibility, Charles Roven told CinemaBlend:
I don't know because I haven't had any direct communication with Warner Brothers about it. I know that David (Ayer) wants an opportunity to do that. And we just have to see.
So the people behind these movies are just as in the dark as the DC fanbase. And it’s not like Roven is an outsider. In addition to The Suicide Squad, Roven is serving as producer on the untitled Superman project that has been in the headlines, as well as another as-yet-unidentified DC project that will be made at Warner Bros. This news is bound to frustrate the Snyder faithful, but we’ll continue to update the mystery of the Justice League streaming numbers every chance that we get.
