Zack Snyder reveals Justice League release date

Zack Snyder's Justice League, the four-hour director's cut of the superhero epic that released to poor critical and commercial reception in 2017, will debut on the HBO Max streaming service on March 18.

Snyder on Friday took to social media to share three posters for the film, with the release date displayed at the bottom. "Fallen," he wrote in his first tweet, which showed the Justice League shield in rubble. "Risen," he wrote in the follow-up tweet, which showed a torn Justice League flag waving above piles of debris. "Reborn," he wrote in tweet number three, which showed a slightly open can of film.

Snyder departed the project before its completion, and was replaced by Avengers director Joss Whedon. The circumstances behind his exit have been shrouded in mystery. While the official reason given at the time suggested that the filmmaker wanted to grieve the passing of his daughter, others reported that he had a strained relationship with the studio, and was fired.

In an as-yet-unreleased book about the drama, Snyder seemingly admitted to having fights with Warner Bros about the film. "I just was kind of done with it. I was in this place of [knowing] my family needs me more than this bulls---, and I just need to honor them and do the best I can to heal that world," Snyder said. "I had no energy to fight [the studio], and fight for [the movie]. Literally, zero energy for that."

"I really think that's the main thing. I think there's a different world where I stayed and kind of tried. And I'm sure I could have . . . because every movie is a fight, right?" he continued. "I was used to that. But I just did not have the [energy]. There was no fight in me. I had been beaten by what was going on in my life and I just didn't want to, I didn't care to . . . that was kind of where I was."

The theatrical cut of Justice League was described by many as a Frankenstein's movie, cobbled together with footage shot by Snyder and Whedon. It made less than $700 million worldwide, against a budget of $300 million. It reportedly lost Warner Bros around $60 million.

Incidentally, that's the reported amount that HBO Max spent on the Snyder cut. In 2019, Snyder was brought back to complete his vision for the film, after sustained fan pressure. He shot additional footage (some of it remotely), completed extensive visual effects work on the film, and brought back Junkie XL's music score.

The film stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, and Jason Momoa as Aquaman.