Looking for Tom and Jerry, Charlotte man finds leaked ‘Justice League’ instead
Doug Bass was looking to put on some background noise on the TV while he worked this week, and then he got a huge surprise on HBO Max.
Bass, a local Realtor and digital marketing analyst, was looking to play the movie “Tom and Jerry” when he quickly realized he was looking at the highly anticipated Zack Synder version of the movie “Justice League” instead.
It isn’t scheduled to release until March 18 on HBO Max.
Synder filmed the original Justice League in 2017, but left the project — a highly anticipated team-up movie of DC superheroes — before it was finished following the death of his daughter. “Avengers” director Joss Whedon was brought in to film re-shoots and took on the role of director. The resulting film ran two hours and was panned critically as Whedon’s lighthearted take on the characters didn’t mesh well with that of Synder, known for movies like “The Watchmen” and “300.”
Fans started a social media hashtag, #ReleaseTheSynderCut and over the years, Synder himself revealed such a cut did exist. In a rare move, Synder was brought back into finish the project and he shot one extra scene that runs about five minutes.
The resulting four-hour movie — nearly double the length of the original film — will include none of Whedon’s shots. Synder was reportedly given a budget of $70 million to finish the film, mostly for special effects, editing and a new musical score.
Synder has promised that it is “an entirely new thing.”
In Charlotte, Bass quickly realized he was getting Synder’s film early.
“I realized after a minute or two that the opening sequence seemed pretty dark for a kids movie,” he said. “Then the DC logo popped up and I knew almost immediately what it was. I scrolled forward a few frames to confirm and then started it over to enjoy.”
He posted his finding on Twitter and many industry trade sites picked up his story. He was one of the first in the nation to discover what had happened.
Bass wasn’t the only one to see the gaffe. Clips and images from the film started popping up over social media, and after removing the film, HBO issued a statement saying the error was “addressed in minutes.”
In Charlotte, Bass watched about an hour — and he liked what he saw.
“I’ve never been a huge DC movie fan,” he said, “always finding them lacking, but the style and progression of the first hour that I saw was enough to get me excited for the premier in another week. I’ve always loved the Marvel movies and enjoyed action hero-type films. This is definitely gonna go in the pro column for DC, I believe.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 8:05 PM.
