WarnerMedia Studios CEO Ann Sarnoff confirmed that the production house will not be continuing filmmaker Zack Snyder’s DC films following the release of the highly anticipated DC film – Zack Snyder’s Justice League, in an interview with Variety.
Sarnoff also informed that Warner Bros has no plans to release the director’s cut of the 2016 film, Suicide Squad.
After the success of Snyder’s Justice League, fans have been demanding the continuation of his DC films and netizens have been trending #RestoreTheSnyderVerse on Twitter. However, Sarnoff called Snyder’s Justice League the end of his trilogy, and said, “We’re very happy we’ve done this, but we’re very excited about the plans we have for all the multi-dimensional DC characters that are being developed right now.”
Snyder began making films for DC in 2013 with Man of Steel and continued with Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice in 2016. Snyder, who was in charge of Justice League as well, stepped down as the director after his daughter died in May 2017. Joss Whedon took over the film as the director and introduced major reworks to the original script. He also cut more than 90 minutes of Snyder’s footage.
The final film, owing to the tug of war due to the creative differences between the two directors, failed to impress fans. Hoping that Snyder’s version of the film would have been better, fans began demanding for Snyder’s cut on social media. After much pressure from fans and online campaigns to release Snyder’s cut of the 2017 film Justice League, Warner Bros finally complied to their wishes last year and released the Snyder Cut in theatres and on HBO Max on March 18.
No Ayer’s Cut
After the disappointment with Justice League and the success of the 2016 superhero film, Deadpool, there was an added pressure on Warner Bros to have the tone and story of director David Ayer’s Suicide Squad changed. Ayer’s original vision for the film was, however, much darker.
The resulting film was far from good. Over the years, Ayer has been vocal in letting fans know the differences between his cut and the theatrical cut. Ayer had even advocated for the release of his cut of Suicide Squad on HBO Max.
This trailer nailed the tone and intention of the film I made. Methodical. Layered. Complex, beautiful and sad. After the BVS reviews shell shocked the leadership at the time, and the success of Deadpool – My soulful drama was beaten into a “comedy” https://t.co/vrMw8QE2iZ
— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) May 30, 2020
This is a good question. My cut would be easy to complete. It would be incredibly cathartic for me. It’s exhausting getting your ass kicked for a film that got the Edward Scissorhands treatment. The film I made has never been seen. https://t.co/FkeHAlNoV0
— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) May 25, 2020
Following the success of fans’ online campaign to have Zack Snyder’s Justice League released, fans began calling for the release of Ayder’s cut of Suicide Squad. #ReleaseAyerCut has recently been trending on Twitter.
However, asked if there will be an Ayer’s Cut of Suicide Squad, Sarnoff said, “We won’t be developing David Ayer’s cut.”
Why? 🥺 https://t.co/0oJrRv54Av
— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) March 22, 2021
Future of DC
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Asked about the future plans for DC, Sarnoff informed that they have a group of creators, including television series creators, and HBO Max series creators and feature film creators, to build the DC multiverse. “My mantra coming in was to make it bigger and broader and we really want to surprise and delight the fans with more connective tissue across the various media and platforms. I’m talking movies, HBO Max, television and our games division,” she said.
Sarnoff also announced that they will be mixing things up and that Warner Bros has a slate of DC films, which will be richer and more multidimensional with broader array of characters. She also announced a whole story of Flash, sequels like Aquaman 2 and new takes on Superman and Shazam.