10 Ingenious Ways Film Directors Beat The Studio

Let's face it - we're all fed up of talking about Zack Snyder's Justice League at this point, but the film's mere existence is nevertheless an extremely fascinating sign of the times.

Justice League was of course originally released in 2017, with Joss Whedon re-shooting a large percentage of the film after Snyder stepped away to deal with a family tragedy, in turn transforming Snyder's ambitious vision into a more bland, "commercial," Avengers-esque tentpole.

The so-called "Whedon Cut" was a critical and commercial disappointment, and in the years that followed Snyder continually talked-up the existence of his own "Snyder Cut," which had already been cut together but still required extensive post-production work.

For years the Snyder Cut seemed like nothing more than a pipe dream, an intriguing "what if?" but not something Warner Bros. would ever entertain bankrolling.

But the power of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut hashtag was undeniable, fans passionately campaigning for the film in ways both creative and troublingly obsessive, alongside most of the focal cast members such as Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot.

Last year, Warner Bros. made fans' dreams come true by confirming the Snyder Cut would indeed be completed, with Snyder being given $70 million to complete visual effects work and even shoot a small additional sequence.

To the surprise of just about everyone, the end result was surprisingly solid, if undeniably messy and excessive.

But more than the movie itself, it crowbarred open a discussion about not only the future of both film and streaming, but also the ability for an online "movement" to actually get what it wants.

This isn't to say that Snyder wanted things to turn out this way back in 2017, but Zack Snyder's Justice League is still an undeniable, belated "win" for Snyder over executive meddlers who felt compelled to sanitise his vision into generic slop.