Justice League director Zack Snyder has revealed that there will be two versions of the film.
At the IGN Fanfest virtual convention, Snyder said that he’s also produced a black-and-white version of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. The monochromatic version is titled Justice is Gray.
There is Zack Snyder’s Justice League ‘Justice is Gray’ edition, which is the black and white version, which I’m a huge advocate of and huge admirer of. For me, it’s my favorite version of the movie. I understand that people want to see it in color, and that’s great, and I really want them to enjoy it in color. But for me, the ultimate version is the black and white IMAX version of the movie, which is sort of the penultimate ridiculous movie that shouldn’t exist at its highest most fetishistic level, and I really, really love that.”
For the time being, Justice is Gray does not have a release date.
Zack Snyder V Aspect Ratios
Zack Snyder also took the time to address a controversy over the film’s aspect ratio. The movie was filmed in the boxy 1:4:3 ratio as oppose to the standard 1.85:1 widescreen ratio. This means when Zack Snyder’s Justice League hits HBO Max, it will have a vertical black lines around the image. Some tech fans may deride the unusual visual choice, but Snyder says there’s a reason.
I didn’t use the IMAX cameras per se, because their cameras aren’t sound. I knew there was gonna be a lot of dialogue in this movie, so I shot it in the aspect ratio that would be ideal for the big 1:4:3 theaters. When you see it in its big square, it’s unbelievable because you know they’ve never done a movie in IMAX that’s entirely in that aspect ratio, and they’ve never done one in black and white so it’s kind of it’s kind of two firsts in a row so it’s kind of fun to see.
Despite Snyder’s hopes for a black-and-white IMAX release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, there are no plans yet.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League hits HBO Max on March 18