What Other Movies Should Get The Justice League Snyder Cut Treatment?
Saturday, March 27, 2021 at 5:00PM 
Sequel culture has led to remake culture and now... recut culture? HBO Max recently released Zack Snyder’s four hour cut of Justice League to subscribers. Snyder left the film in 2017 in the wake of his daughter’s suicide, leaving the project in the hands of Joss Whedon. When the film was released in November, Justice League was savaged by critics and audiences alike. The two hour film had very little character development, laughable dialogue, an unmemorable villain, bad CGI and made very little sense. Sequel culture has led to remake culture and now to recut culture of movies of the recent past.
While we prefer new movies and the classics to reworking old-IP, why not join in on the fun and ponder the alternate realities of what could’ve been had Justice League been 4 hours or had Mrs. Doubtfire been rated R? If streamers have hoards of IP and buckets of money, what other cuts of old movies should they bring to life?
Here are ten suggestions…
Dear Tim Cook, get Jodie Foster behind the camera again.
Help Jodie Foster Make Flora Plum (Apple TV+)
When Apple TV+ made its splashy first upfronts, it was quick to reveal all the A-list talent it was working with. Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Snoopy were all part of the Apple TV+ family. You know who wasn’t there? Jodie Foster! After watching her virtually win the Golden Globe in her pajamas for The Mauritanian, the world suddenly realized they wanted more of Jodie Foster (even if they won’t watch The Mauritanian). Apple TV+ should get Foster on their team with a deal that is too good for her to resist. Promise to give her $70 million to make her depression era circus drama Flora Plum that has been in the works since the 90s. Claire Danes may be too old now, but act quickly and Anya Taylor-Joy could be available.
Looks like a good encapsulation of Roger Allers and Mark Dindal making two versions of "The Emperor's New Groove" concurrently.
The Kingdom of the Sun (Disney+)
Vulture recently published an oral history of the 2000 Disney animated film The Emperor’s New Groove that was as entertaining as the zany film itself. Originally, the film was going to be a grand musical epic tied to the Incan myths and featuring multiple songs by Sting. Through an insane series of events Roger Allers’ vision was set aside in favor of the goofier ideas of Mark Dindal. According to the article, it all came down to a crazy bake off between the two visions. If Disney+ is looking for more content to give its subscribers, give Rogers Allers $70 million and a second chance to make his vision for The Kingdom of the Sun a reality. David Spade can reprise his role as Kuzko and Jujubee can voice Ezma in the style of Eartha Kitt. The song "Snuff Out the Light" from the original film exists on the internet just to give us a taste of what we are missing.
Give Daphne and Velma the makeout session they deserve, HBO Max.The Adult Version of Raja Gosnell’s Scooby Doo (HBO MAX)
The 2001 live action Scooby Doo already resembles the more adult version that was originally intended. Shaggy falls for a woman named Mary Jane and the whole movie takes place on a Spring Break theme park destination. Still, apparently a test screening in Sacramento and the threat of an R-rating caused Warner Brothers to substantially alter the film, directed by Raja Gosnell and written by James Gunn. So what had to be cut? Language, weed and sex jokes hit the cutting room floor. Additionally, a kiss between Velma (Linda Cardellini) and Daphne (Sarah Michelle Geller) was cut. The internet has already unearthed a deleted scene alluding to a more queer version of Velma.
fuck it deleted scene of daphne having a gay panic over hot velma on the tl pic.twitter.com/zsAwip15h0
— boobs (@Iebsianss) July 12, 2020
We would’ve love to seen lesbian icon Velma get to live her truth, rather than be saddled with a boyfriend in the sequel played by Seth Green.
Justice for Judy!
The Uncovered Footage From George Cukor’s A Star Is Born (HBO MAX)
Judy Garland’s performance in A Star is Born is one of the greatest ever committed to film. The problem is, not all of the film made it to the screen. Despite great reviews, the three hour running time during the film’s initial release made theater owners upset as they would have less screenings per day. Thus, Jack and Danny Warner went and hacked away at the picture, reducing it to a 154 minute cut that reportedly wasn't as satisfying. The cut footage was destroyed, never to be seen again. Luckily, in 1983 Ronald Harver did a massive restoration that involved stitching old audio recordings of the missing scenes over promotional stills for the film. It’s hardly perfect, but it definitely brings the film back to its legendary earliest glory. Warner Brothers now owes it to the ghost of Judy Garland to spend $70 million in completing the restoration. Get Renee Zellweger back in her Judy Garland costume and have her re-enact the missing scenes. Make her earn that Oscar she already won.
Adrien Brody wasn't the only one virtually cut out of Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line."All the Deleted Actors from The Thin Red Line (Hulu)
If Malick-heads didn’t have the Hulu-Disney+-ESPN+ bundle yet, this is a surefire way to get them. Just because you are cast in a Terrence Malick movie doesn’t mean that you will end up in a Terrence Malick movie. However, Hulu could have the power to change that! Take $70 million from the Disney vault and put all of the actors Malick cut back into The Thin Red Line. Bill Pullman, Mickey Rourke and Lukas Haas can all see themselves in army gear somewhere in the tall grass. Oscar winner Adrien Brody might get more than a few lines. The 170 minute movie might balloon to closer to four hours. If that feels like an issue, they can chop it up and make it a limited series.
We'll take more Julianne Moore wherever we can.
Can You Ever Forgive Me with Julianne Moore (Hulu)
Melissa McCarthy is perfect as Lee Israel. In fact, Marielle Heller’s 2018 film is perfect as is. Yet, we can never have enough Julianne Moore vehicles. Moore was fired six days before shooting due to “creative differences'' that appeared to be around Moore’s insistence on wearing a prosthetic nose and fatsuit. This seems much worse than the version that we did get. Still, now that Searchlight is part of the Disney family, this would be a welcome addition to Hulu family. Maybe they can air it linearly on FX so it could be an “FX on Hulu” special like Mrs. America.
"The Magnificent Ambersons" may have made it into the Library of Congress, but Orson Welles has some problems with the cut that exists.
Give Orson Welles the Magnificent Ambersons Ending He Deserved (Netflix)
The big ticket IP for any streaming service would be The Magnificent Amersons, Orson Welles’ lauded 1942 drama about a wealthy Midwestern family changed forever by the automobile industry. After poor initial test screenings, RKO took the picture and cut 40 minutes from it. As if the severe trimming wasn’t bad enough, they also reshot a much happier ending that didn’t fit with Welles vision for the film. Orson Welles revealed to Peter Bogdanovich in conversations between 1969-1975 for This Is Orson Welles that he had wanted to re-shoot the ending with the remaining live cast members, but could not get it together. If Netflix can bring The Other Side of the Wind to life, then they should also give Welles the ending that RKO denied him. Though the theatrical cut is preserved in the Library of Congress, I’m sure they’ll also want to have the expanded version. Just make sure they get the Netflix "bum bum” logo at the beginning and the suggestion for Firefly Lane over the credits.
Glenn Close will not be ignored, Paramount Plus.The Glenn Close Cut of Fatal Attraction (Paramount+)
Glenn Close doesn’t need an Oscar, she needs closure with her most iconic character. Fatal Attraction was the top grossing film of 1987 and a major Oscar player. It was a huge hit that critics and audiences adored. However, Close had disagreed with the studio when they wanted her to film a new ending that would turn her malevolent Alex Forrest from a scorned woman to a boogeyman. The original ending that Close wanted does exist in special features. However, let’s have Paramount Plus hand over control of the movie to Close and get the definitive version of the story for Alex Forrest. It's not perfect, but it's better than the series idea the streamer has planned.
Live footage of us watching the butthole cut of "Cats."
The Butthole Cut of Cats (Peacock)
The theatrical cut of Cats featured Rebel Wilson eating her cockroach backup dancers and Judi Dench licking the inside of her leg. What more could it have used? Buttholes. That’s right. The cats in Cats were more humanlike than cat-like (all their hands and feets stayed intact). At one point, the cats also had visible buttholes as they pirouetted throughout the Jellicle Ball. The PG rating would likely be harder to keep with this version. However, bringing back the buttholes could also allow Hooper to tinker around even further with his grotesque camp classic in the making. Could an extra $70 million fix the visual effects that kept Judi Dench’s wedding ring in the final product? Would two extra hours help the film make more sense or less sense? How many more cats could be introduced, and who would play them? So many more questions and almost zero answers could be ascertained from a four hour, butthole focused cut of Cats. Get on it Peacock, #ReleaseTheButtholeCut.
Why would you ever cut out Angela Bassett from your movie?The Angela Bassett Cut of Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Prime Video)
Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge are already going to star in a series version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith for Prime Video. However, the reason for that movie existing was for the affair between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie that set tabloids on fire. If anything, we want more of that movie. Not more of what we actually saw (we spend so much time on Adam Brody in that movie). It seems that Angela Bassett's role as Pitt’s boss was cut from the final film. Let’s add those scenes back in and then have Jeff Bezos spend $70 million more expanding her role. What makes her tic? What’s her backstory? Angela Bassett needs more lead roles, and this could be the perfect opportunity.
None of those options strike your fancy, studio executives? There’s a lot you could do with $70 million. Here are some other ways you can stretch out some old catalog movies to be four hours like Justice League:
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Two Extra Hours of Margaret
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Add The Entire Opera that Anna watches in Birth (but leave the camera on Kidman still)
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Day for Night followed by the finished product of Meet Pamela
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Four hours of Girls Trip complete with footage from when Tiffany Haddish took Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith on a Groupon swamp river tour
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An extra hour of The Tree of Life where the dinosaurs recreate the plot of one of the Ice Age films
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Keep The Forty-Year Old Version intact, but show the entirety of "Harlem Avenue" in the middle of the film.
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Five more chapters of Wild Tales
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The raw, unedited footage from Rome’s (Jada Pinkett-Smith) Savannah strip club in Magic Mike XXL
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Robert Altman’s Longer Cuts
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Why not give Ridley Scott another try at Blade Runner?
What definitive director’s cuts would you like to see a streaming service make happen? Let us know in the comments below.
Reader Comments (40)
I will never ever ever watch a movie that has the words “Zack Snyder” in the title. Gross hack director. 4 hours?! Are you f*cking kidding me?
I really want a Zack Snyder Wonder Woman especially after WW84. I thought I would have no interest in this but was surprised with how much I liked it. Also Syder should film a group of people working at home during the pandemic and Justice League it up.
This was a nice break from the Oscar race.
Broadcast News, but Jane does go on the getaway with Tom, and we sit on the edge of our seats waiting to see if their relationship actually will implode. Joan Cusack is there too, and she does another mad dash.
Personally, I would be interested in a version of The Big Chill that includes the cut flashbacks featuring Kevin Costner...
What a great idea. My suggestions:
Edit "Out of Africa" down to two hours. This has already been done for television so why not make a shorter cut for modern audiences. That movie is beautiful but too long.
Film "Geek Love" with Rami Malek, Meryl Steep (in two roles) and Julia Garner as a limited series. Meryl and Julia would exist in separate times but be be able to communicate with each other because of genetic anomalies.
Film "Devil in the White City," which is great content that never gets made. If "The Alienist" could be turned into a successful series, so could this property.
With the exception of Flora Plum, I have no interest in seeing extended or new versions of these films. The stuff that Malick cut out in The Thin Red Line really didn't fit in with the final story though it was good to see more Adrien Brody and Mickey Rourke in those deleted scenes. There was no six-hour cut of that film and it was really just an assembled version that Malick took a lot of time on before he chose what eventually became the final version of the film at 170 minutes.
Sometimes these restorations are phenomenal (cue restored 1954 A Star is Born).
Something not. Streisand said the footage director Sydney Pollack lopped out of The Way We Were in the San Francisco theater manager's office between the first unsuccessful preview and the second popular preview cost her a Best Actress Oscar.
Years later Streisand released a DVD with the excised scenes restored. The added moments did not add up to an Oscar.
Restoration I would love to see:
The original 23 minute dream sequence in 1945's Spellbound. Director Alfred Hitchcock and artist Salvador Dali collaborated on the project before producer David O. Selznick chopped 20 minutes off the run time.
I would love to see the Demme cut of Swing Shift. Apparently, it was floating around the internet at some point.
I second Tommy Marx answer for the cut scenes from "The Big Chill"
LOL - @Christopher - I would definitely pay $20 to rent your proposed extended cut of Birth!!!
Awkwafina's real name (Nora Lum) rhymes with Flora Plum,
I could be convinced to watch a Back to the Future with both Michael J. Fox and Eric Stoltz.
Wes Craven's first version of Cursed.
CYEFM is the one time i'm glad Julianne didn't get a role,I have a feeling it would've been miscasting hell.
Al the movies directed by David Lynch.
Sunset boulevard, I think Wilder shot some scenes that include corpses talking.
Can You Ever Forgive Me with Julianne Moore (Hulu)
FUCK THAT!
I mean, don’t we all want that 6 hour version of “Margaret”?
Yes to Swing Shift! I want to see how badly Goldie Hawn's jealousy and vanity affected Christine Lahti.
The directors cut of Grace Quigley too. Bit of a niche suggestion I know.
That Demme cur of Swing Shift. He was gone too see.
And my white whale is Altman’s extra-large TV cut of NASHVILLE that reportedly runs 7-9 hours.
@TW-I second that as I heard that was an entirely different movie instead of the version we got.
I also want to know if Jonathan Demme had secretly stashed his own cut of Weekend at Party Pier?
I'd watch restorations of "Mike's Murder" and "I'll Do Anything".
I'll second (or third) the longer cuts of NASHVILLE and SWING SHIFT.
Between the world premiere of LAST TANGO IN PARIS and the theatrical release, Bertolucci cut a scene of Brando getting on all fours, barking like a dog to scare away someone at the front door of the apartment--Pauline Kael, who was at the premiere, liked it so much she highlighted it in her rave review. How come that's never appeared as an extra or in an extended edition?
I'LL DO ANYTHING with the songs!
THE GODFATHER PART II with all the extra footage that was added to the TV miniseries version (the stuff is really good. We meet a young Hyman Roth, etc.), but edited into the non-chronological version going back and forth in time, rather than only available in that stupid all-chronological version.
The original version of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY! Kubrick's dead. The estate already went against his wishes by releasing FEAR AND DESIRE. Let us see the extra half hour of 2001 that audiences saw during the first week of its release, before Kubrick got cold feet and trimmed it.
Dirk Bogarde claims he saw a three hour cut of Fassbinder's DESPAIR during post production (or maybe just read a 180 minute script that he loved. He said it was really good. He felt the distributor, pressuring the director to cut it down to two hours really hurt it. As is, it is considered lesser Fassbinder. Maybe the three hour cut really is a much better film.
I read somewhere that Malick prepared three cuts of THE THIN RED LINE, one that has a very traditional narrative, one that's bonkers avant garde, and then the one we've all seen. #releasetheothertwo
Someone rescue the "Death Becomes Her" cut scenes - there was apparently a whole Tracey Ullman subplot.
Carol epilogue where Carol and Therese live happily ever after
The "Eyes wide shut" version with Jennifer Jason Leigh & Harvey Keitel restored performances.
The "Eyes wide shut" version with Jennifer Jason Leigh & Harvey Keitel restored performances.
2 of my fave films actually got that treatment already...
Frank Oz's Little Shop of Horrors restored with the original ending (and the film gets even better!)
FFCoppola's The Godfather Coda, this year (improving The Godfather III, which I am among the few that loved as it was, originally - wasn't bother by Sofia Coppola's cringe worthy miscast and I am so happy she's now an Oscar winner and successful author)
But would love to see the full director's cut of Margaret
And my absolute number 1 is...
William Friedkin's director cut of "Cruising" with all the sex scenes - real ones - that he shot included in the cut.
I saw the restored version of A Star is Born. It was interesting to bear the dialogue and only see photos.
Inception. I think a 4 hour Inception would be Nolan's masterpiece.
The premise hear of re-editing movies with all the pieces still existing is an interesting one. The premise of filming new scenes or just filming new movies altogether is just wishful thinking. ;-)
So going with the former, I want to see a better edited version of New York, New York. All the pieces for a great movie are there but moving in a chronological order leaves all of Liza's great numbers in the final 30 minutes. I want the timeline to be blown up a la Pulp Fiction and for the musical numbers to be scattered throughout. You can use voiceover to stitch it together if necessary, but I really think audiences these days can handle the new timeline.
I forgot one: Kurosawa's original cut of THE IDIOTS was 4 hours. Supposedly the trims were rescued and are in a archive in Japan. Let's return that to the director's vision, please.
Release a Jocelyn Moorehouse cut of "A THOUSAND ACRES" - that movie came nowhere close to living up to the source material and the incredible cast put together for it. And even if the additional stuff is bad, who could argue with more Pfeiffer, Lange, Leigh, and baby Michelle Williams and baby Elizabeth Moss?
LOL, how could I forget this?
Philadelphia has around one hour cut because the studio was too scared to show the full love story between Banderas and Hanks' character... a pity Demme passed away, but certainly someone, anyone could restore the original cut?
Glenn Close doesn’t need an Oscar
What a bullshit sentiment.
@ Dave in Hollywood
I was waiting to see if I was the only one thinking about New York, New York. Thanks! ;-)
Where is the justice for thr 4-hour cut of The Assassination of Jesse James by thr Coward Robert Ford that played at Venice?
@/3rtful Well, Glenn Close doesn't need an Oscar. Does she deserve one? Of course. Does she NEED one? Um, no. Will she (or Pfieffer or anyone) be thought of less without one? Of course not. Ironically, Close probably would have won for FATAL ATTRACTION, but the film became toxic by the time the awards were rolling around, what with men screaming "kill the bitch" at screenings during the last scene. Nobody wanted to reward her for appearing in a movie that so demonized its main, mentally ill, character. Initially the film was supposed to be a tale about a man's responsibility in situations like this, but it turned into a backlash against feminism and "clingy women."
More on Glenn Close and her 7 nominations. It wouldn't have made sense for her to beat Cher. However, in 1988 when Jodie Foster won for The Accused, that was a 2nd Oscar Jodie didn't really need. We could have instead given the Oscar to Glenn for Dangerous Liaisons. Problem solved and everyone can relax.
@RRICH7. The Accused was Foster's first Oscar. Nobody knew SILENCE OF THE LAMBS would come along.
Since Disney is doing live-action remakes they could do Kingdom of the Sun since Emperor’s New Groove only works as cartoon. That way we could see it and it would not be another live action remake that looks the same as original nor animated film that is too similar in its characters, plot and setting to another one. It’s also pretty typical that animated films drastically change when they are being made, this is once of most extreme examples but it’s not that unique. It was just well documented by the Sweat Box.
I LOVE the Snyder cut! Have already seen twice. Happy camper here :)
I think that Glenn Close would have won the Oscar with the alternate ending.
01. The Thin Red Line avant garde cut
02. The English Patient directors cut. There must be more footage somewhere
03. The Mulholland Drive directors cut
04. The Lord of The Rings extended version. I want to see that again.
05. Eyes Wide Shut. YES!