Warner Bros. Pulls Zack Snyder’s Justice League Trailer Due To Rights Issues

The trailer for Zack Snyder’s Justice League offered Snyder Cut campaigners a taste of what they’ve been working towards. After years of fan effort, HBO Max will release the Snyder cut in early 2021. But fans got a scare when the trailer for the project was pulled from the internet. Warner Bros. pulled the Zack Snyder’s Justice League trailer from platforms, including YouTube, leading to quickly formed conspiracy theories about what the move meant, even wondering if plans to release the project had fallen through. All that worry was for nothing. It turns out that Warner Bros. is taking action because the trailer uses music without obtaining the proper rights.

ComicBook.com has learned that the music used in Zack Snyder‘s Justice League trailer that was released in August was no longer allowed to be used. The Zack Snyder Justice League trailers containing said music have been pulled down until the issue can be addressed; the studio has suggested that the trailers could be re-posted, once the matter is resolved.

While details haven’t been released yet, it’s hard not to speculate that the musical track in question is “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen, of his 1984 album Various Positions. Zack Snyder fans know all too well how the filmmaker used that track for the infamous sex scene between Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II in Snyder’s adaptation of Watchmen. It begs the question of what would’ve happened behind the scenes for Cohen’s “Hallelujah” to get cleared for Watchmen but not the Justice League trailers.

As of now, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is still on pace to be released in the first half of 2021. The format will be a four-part miniseries instead of a movie, though we still don’t know just how long each segment will be. At first, it was stated that Snyder would simply be finishing up his version of the movie (which was abandoned early in post-production); however, last month we learned that original Justice League cast members were returning for reshoots (including Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, and Ray Fisher) were returning for reshoots; additionally, we’ve learned that Jared Leto’s Joker, Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke and Amber Heard’s Mera would also be returning. The reported for Snyder’s Justice League has reportedly swelled from the $30 million to $70 million range.

In terms of what comes after Snyder’s Justice League: industry analysts are speculating Warner Bros. could be looking to court Snyder back into the DC fold.