Five years after an acrimonious split with Warner Bros., Zack Snyder has returned to the studio lot. No, this does not mean the SnyderVerse is being restored, but the filmmaker may soon reunite with his former studio on a different franchise.
According to Page Six, Snyder returned to the Warner Bros. lot Monday night to host a screening of “Excalibur,” director John Boorman’s 1981 Arthurian epic. The filmmaker reportedly received a “hero’s welcome” from the assembled employees and participated in a Q&A with Warner Bros. film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy.
READ MORE: Zack Snyder To Write & Direct ‘Escape From New York’ Reimagining For StudioCanal
The screening marked Snyder’s first public return to the studio following the contentious end of his tenure overseeing its DC film universe. Snyder departed the franchise after stepping away from 2017’s “Justice League,” which Joss Whedon subsequently completed through extensive reshoots and post-production. Years of campaigning by Snyder’s fans eventually led Warner Bros. to release the filmmaker’s four-hour cut, “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” on HBO Max in 2021.
Page Six reports that Snyder and Warner Bros. parted ways amid arbitration and a quiet settlement, but most of the executives involved in that battle are no longer at the studio. De Luca and Abdy did not join Warner Bros. until 2022, making Snyder’s return a potential reset between the filmmaker and the company.
The reunion may extend beyond an evening of classic cinema. Snyder is currently writing and directing a remake of John Carpenter’s “Escape From New York” for StudioCanal, and Page Six reports that the project could eventually land on Warner Bros.’ distribution calendar.
That possibility is not entirely unexpected. StudioCanal’s parent company, CANAL+, signed a multiyear, multi-territory agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery in December, creating a pathway for the film to return Snyder to Warner Bros. in a formal capacity.
Still, the article stresses the obvious: there is no indication that the studio plans to revive Snyder’s abandoned DC continuity. Clearly, James Gunn and Peter Safran now oversee DC Studios, which is building a separate interconnected film and television universe, and that’s not about to change any time soon. Any potential Snyder reunion would instead appear to center on “Escape From New York” or another non-DC project.
Snyder’s appearance also arrived during a particularly uncertain moment for Warner Bros. Employees are reportedly “demoralized” as the company’s proposed $110 billion merger with Paramount faces an antitrust challenge from a coalition of 12 state attorneys general. De Luca and Abdy have used their ongoing repertory screenings to rally staff, with Patty Jenkins recently presenting “Blade Runner” and Oliver Stone hosting a screening of “JFK.”
Inviting Snyder nevertheless carried considerably more symbolic weight. His DC tenure ended in years of public acrimony between the studio and his fan base, but Monday’s reception suggests both sides may finally be ready to move forward—even if the SnyderVerse itself remains in the past.
