Zack Snyder's Justice League Update: The "Visual Effects Extravaganza" Is Nearly Finished

In an update on Zack Snyder's Justice League, the director says the Snyder Cut is about 90% finished with only a "couple hundred" visual effects shots left to complete. After recruiting Ben Affleck (Batman), Henry Cavill (Superman), Ezra Miller (Flash), and Ray Fisher (Cyborg) for additional photography in October, Snyder estimated Justice League to have completed 75% of VFX work in a mid-December update. On Christmas Eve, as Snyder readies his director's cut for a planned March 2021 release on HBO Max, the Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice filmmaker says the "visual effects extravaganza" is in the finishing stages:

"I'm spending my holidays working on a little movie called Justice League. It's a little movie we're trying to get finished for 2021, which is coming up very soon," Snyder told Beyond the Trailer. "The process right now with Justice League is today, for instance, I was down at Warner Brothers and we were mixing a reel for sound. We've been mixing a little bit over the last few weeks. We've been trying to get the reels done because the sound is such a huge job, and trying to get the music — Junkie's music is all in — and it's amazing. I think everyone's gonna be really excited about that."

Along with the new score from Batman v Superman composer Junkie XL, the Snyder Cut has added "the giant sound effects, explosions, [CGI creation] Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds), all the stuff."

"And then I come back and Dody [Dorn, editor] and I get on the edit, because shots come in for visual effects. Dody's at her house and I'm here [at the studio], and then we connect via the Internet," Snyder explained. "Our machines are locked together, so I see everything she's doing and she shows me what's happening, and we go through the cut together that way."

Asked the amount of progress Justice League has made since his last update, Snyder said, "I would say probably further than that [75%]. I would probably say in the nineties. I think we're in the nineties, we're down to a couple hundred shots that we're finishing now."

Snyder estimates there are 2,800 visual effects shots in Zack Snyder's Justice League, which the filmmaker calls a "visual effects extravaganza."

"My hat's off and kudos to my entire visual effects team, they do an amazing job working so hard every day on this movie. And it's a labor of love for all of us," Snyder added. "A lot of the guys — D.J. [John Desjardin, visual effects supervisor] included — worked on my version of Justice League, and stayed on after I left, and now are back to finish this up. So I think it's been really cathartic for everybody."

Earlier this week, Snyder revealed an official release date announcement with an accompanying trailer would come early in the New Year.

Zack Snyder's Justice League premieres on HBO Max in March 2021.