As audiences around the world tuned to watch the premiere of Zack Snyder's Justice League, they were greeted by an unusual message: “This film is presented in a 4:3 format to preserve the integrity of Zack Snyder’s creative vision.” While watching a film with black bars on either side of the screen may seem unusual to modern audiences more accustomed to flat-screen TVs, this decision was actually made for a pretty sensible reason: the movie was originally shot with the intention of being displayed on IMAX screens.
While the pandemic means it's not exactly easy to get people into IMAX capable theaters, Zack Snyder's Justice League was shot in an aspect ratio that makes it uniquely suited to the technology. If the film were to be adjusted to fit onto a wider aspect ratio like most TV's and theaters use, they would have needed to cut off parts of the picture in order to do so. Since Zack Snyder's artistic vision, and indeed the entire thesis of the 'Snyder Cut' project, was to create exactly what he wanted with no limits, he made the decision to preserve all of the footage by displaying it in the slightly more square 4:3 presentation.
That may be disappointing for some fans who had hoped to make full use of their TVs to watch the film, but there is some good news: Snyder still wants to host more IMAX screenings of Justice League, where his film can be shown as it was truly intended. During an interview with CinemaBlend, the director talked about his plans to show the film off after its initial launch, including both the color and the black and white versions: "So as we go forward, I'm going to do a handful of charity screenings -- a couple in color, a couple in black and white."
Not only that, but Snyder admitted he is hoping to get a big gathering together as soon as possible for a real celebration of his time with the DC Extended Universe. The hope is to invite everyone who helped make the Snyder Cut possible, along with the cast of the films, in order to get a huge charity event going, where screenings of all his DC movies will be shown: "The idea there would be to do an IMAX weekend where we would do Man of Steel, BvS and Justice League as sort of a three-day event."
Snyder's Man of Steel was the film that launched the DC Extended Universe in 2013 and was followed by Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016. The divisive response to the latter is said to be just one of the factors that contributed to Warner Bros.' decision to meddle with Snyder's vision for Justice League.
Snyder's plans for IMAX screenings of Justice League would certainly be an impressive get-together, and also a nice end-cap to Snyder's time leading the charge on the DC Extended Universe. Regardless of the road that brought the director here, it's nice that he can send off the project on his own terms.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is currently available on HBO Max.
Source: CinemaBlend's ReelBlend