It’s being said that once again the WB execs are keeping the DCEU movies shorter than possibly intended with the runtime of Justice League.
While other reports have stated Zack Snyder intended Justice League to be shorter than Batman vs. Superman, it seems pretty obvious he was given a mandate by WB and had to work within it (same for Joss Whedon).
The less than two-hour runtime for Justice League is shorter than Wonder Woman (2h 21m) and Joss Whedon’s blockbusters at Marvel, The Avengers (2h 23m) and The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2h 22m).
Comparable runtimes would be Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (2h 2m) or even Thor: Ragnarok (2h 10m), which are comedies, or Doctor Strange (1h 55m).
Marvel’s recent Spider-Man: Homecoming came in longer at 2h 13m, and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 at 2h 18m.
It should be noted the 3-hour cut of Batman vs. Superman was a lot better than the theatrical version. Reportedly, WB wouldn’t allow Snyder to go with the longer cut as well.
Hopefully the 2-hour cut of Justice League is still decent enough, but I know I wouldn’t mind a longer Director’s Cut released eventually.
I’ll also add the problem with Batman vs. Superman wasn’t that it was too long or too dark, it was the writing and story.
Justice League has a November 17, 2017 release directed by Zack Snyder, with the story by Chris Terrio and Zack Snyder, the screenplay by Chris Terrio and Joss Whedon, and stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon and Willem Dafoe an Atlantean, Nuidis Vulko.
Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.
