After Zack Snyder made the surprise announcement that HBO Max will officially Release the Snyder Cut in 2021, there has been an intense debate on whether the decision to satisfy fan requests will set a precedent moving forward.
For context, the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign is comprised of genuinely passionate comic book lovers who simply want to see what Snyder’s original vision looked like before a family tragedy made him leave production, but it also has its share of individuals who have engaged in online harassment whenever the quality or existence of the Snyder Cut has been questioned. So naturally, people are wondering whether fans will be emboldened, both positively and otherwise, to campaign for other “cuts” in the future. Tony Goncalves, the head of HBO Max, tackled the subject in a recent interview with The Verge:
“Consumers guide, and we absolutely have to listen as industry. I had a boss that once said, ‘Industry and consumers aren’t always aligned, but consumers do tend to win.’ It’s a fine balance. And I think when it comes to video, when it comes to entertainment, when it comes to content, consumers have never had more choice, and they’ve never had more of a voice. But that doesn’t mean that we will go and invest our dollars in every single fandom that exists.”
While Goncalves says that the Snyder Cut is “definitely not a precedent,” director David Ayer is currently fanning the flames of an online campaign to release the “Ayer Cut” of Suicide Squad. Whether or not that will ever become a reality, only the future knows. Golcalves’ position is that HBO Max, in the case of the Snyder Cut, is simply listening to what consumers are saying, but it definitely doesn’t mean that “we’re going to go redo every movie ever made.”
(Via The Verge)
