Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced they will release Zack Snyder’s Justice League on Blu-ray Disc, DVD and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray September 7th, 2021
Justice League director Zack Snyder announced the release with a cool trailer:
The film represents director Zack Snyder’s original vision for 2017’s Justice League. He famously left the production due to a family tragedy in 2016, and the studio brought in Joss Whedon to finish the film with reshoots and a theater-friendly two-hour cut. It ended up making $657.9 million, falling short of expectations, which led to a fan movement to petition the studio to release Snyder’s version.
During the social media campaign, over 200K fans signed petitions to urging Warner Bros. “Restore The Snyder Cut”, and the director’s fans raised over $200,000 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Those pleas remained confined to the realm of online debates until the advent of the HBO Max streaming service, which commissioned Snyder to finish his version.The “Snyder Cut” ended up being four hours long and was released on HBO Max in March to positive fan reviews. (A RT score of 94)
A sequel to Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, the film finds Batman (Bruce Wayne) recruiting a team of superheroes, including Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), The Flash (Ezra Miller) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) to protect Earth from villain Steppenwolf, the harbinger of an invasion by the evil Darkseid, who seeks three ancient objects of immense power that may be the key to resurrecting Superman (Henry Cavill). The Ultra HD Blu-ray disc of Zack Snyder’s Justice League will feature a Dolby Atmos soundtrack remixed specifically for the home theater environment.
Warners/HBO gave Snyder over 90 million to create this new version, which includes new scenes, visual effects, and a new score.
The biggest surprise of Zack Snyder’s Justice League may be just how much of Ray Fisher’s role as Cyborg was expanded compared to the theatrical release. Snyder had previously said Cyborg was the heart of the movie, and he was not kidding. The character is literally a central figure in the plot of the whole film, but also an emotional tether to the audience as well – a son reconstructed by his father, turning his back on his own Dr. Frankenstein for the monster he’s become only to seek reconciliation too late. Cyborg’s arc provides emotional heft and a personal reason for going after Steppenwolf, and the additional scenes here improve the film’s characters and story.
Ezra Miller’s Flash is as charming and fun as he was in the theatrical cut, but just as we do with Cyborg, we get a mini-origin story for the character within Zack Snyder’s Justice League-verse, including a brilliant sequence that involves Flash saving Iris West (Kiersey Clemons) from a car crash in super slow motion. He also gets an emotional moment in the finale during which he showcases an ability that was intended to serve as a prelude to the Flashpoint movie that was in the works for the solo Flash movie. The Flash movie is still on, with a different story and director, Andy Muschietti of IT fame.
Another surprise is the appearance of Darkseid as the creature behind the invasion of Earth. He was to be the main villain in Snyder’s vision of JL sequels, which appear to be off the books now. The DCEU is focusing on stand-alone films like The Batman after the attempts to quickly build a Marvel-level connected Universe did not succeed at the box office.
As seen on HBO Max the 242 minute epic is stunningly beautiful, containing gorgeous designs, cinematography, and sound. It’s presented in 6 chapters, like a mini-series. Even viewed on separate nights the cumulative effect is more like a theatrical epic. The unsaturated look is cool and different, and the camera moves almost hypnotic. Snyder even created an entire version of the project in Black and White! Clearly a labor of love.
Because of the mystique and excitement that surrounds Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a physical release presents an opportunity to package together behind-the-scenes extras. For example, it would be great to see the footage Zack shot of the Green Lantern for the End sequence, before the studio asked him to be swapped with Martian Manhunter. So far no news on BTS extras. Simply having the superhero-as-tech-opera masterpiece will be hours of fun on a big, HD screen.
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David Raiklen wrote, directed and scored his first film at age 9. He began studying keyboard and composing at age 5. He attended, then taught at UCLA, USC and CalArts. Among his teachers are John Williams and Mel Powel.
He has worked for Fox, Disney and Sprint. David has received numerous awards for his work, including the 2004 American Music Center Award. Dr. Raiklen has composed music and sound design for theater (Death and the Maiden), dance (Russian Ballet), television (Sing Me a Story), cell phone (Spacey Movie), museums (Museum of Tolerance), concert (Violin Sonata ), and film (Appalachian Trail).
His compositions have been performed at the Hollywood Bowl and the first Disney Hall. David Raiken is also host of a successful radio program, Classical Fan Club.
