“I Have The Footage”: Zack Snyder Can “Fix” Movie With Career-Low RT Audience Score, Approves Fan Campaign
Summary Zack Snyder says that he has the footage he needs to "fix" Sucker Punch, his critically-panned 2011 action fantasy.
Snyder hasn't yet been given permission to rework the film, and he reveals that he would approve of a fan campaign to make it happen.
Snyder was given full creative control for Rebel Moon, and the poor response to that film suggests a new cut of Sucker Punch may not be enough to fix its flaws.
Zack Snyder discusses his desire to go back and "fix" Sucker Punch, his movie with a career-low audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Released in 2011, Sucker Punch stars Emily Browning as Babydoll, an institutionalized young woman who retreats into a fantastical alternate reality to escape the pain of her real life. The film was lambasted by critics upon its release and was a flop with audiences too, earning only $89.8 million worldwide. In recent years, there has been talk of a potential Snyder cut of Sucker Punch, though one has yet to come to fruition.
In a recent interview with Empire as the release of Rebel Moon – Part 2: The Scargiver, Snyder's new Netflix sequel, approaches, the filmmaker again voices interest in reworking Sucker Punch. Snyder reveals that he's been waiting to "fix" the movie for years now, but that he's so far had no luck convincing the rights holders to let him do it. He even gives his approval to a fan campaign to get the ball rolling. Check out his comments below:
“The only movie I would change is Sucker Punch, because it never really got finished correctly. Even the director’s cut is not really the correct cut. It’s really just an extended version. If I had the chance, I would fix that movie. “I have the footage already shot: they just have to let me put it together. We ask every now and then. We have to ask again. I think there has to be a window when no-one’s got the movie. "If they want to start a campaign, that’s alright.”
Related 10 Reasons Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch Bombed At The Box Office - Explaining The $89 Million Flop Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch was a big box office failure back in 2011, and there are a variety of reasons why it underperformed so badly.
Would A New Cut Of Sucker Punch Even Be Worth It?
Close
Sucker Punch currently has a 22% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the audience score higher but still quite poor at 47%. Critically, the score for Sucker Punch is Snyder's second-worst after Rebel Moon's 21%, but the film marks the worst audience score of Snyder's career. Clearly, the film just didn't resonate with viewers, and it's not clear how much tinkering it would take to improve this.
Title Rotten Tomatoes Critics' Score Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire 21% 58% Army of the Dead 67% 75% Zack Snyder's Justice League 72% 93% Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice 29% 63% Man of Steel 56% 75% Sucker Punch 22% 47% Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole 52% 64% Watchmen 65% 71% 300 61% 89% Dawn of the Dead 76% 77%
It's worth mentioning that a fan campaign to "Release the Snyder Cut" of 2017's panned Justice League was successful, and Snyder's version of the movie was actually a fairly significant improvement. This film, however, was made under unique circumstances, with Snyder dropping out midway through production due to a personal tragedy, and Joss Whedon stepping in to replace him. Sucker Punch, on the other hand, featured Snyder as director all the way through.
Snyder has been vocal about the studio not necessarily letting him release a version of Sucker Punch that he was happy with, but he was given full creative control for Rebel Moon, and that film was similarly received. The fact that Snyder already has the footage he needs for a new cut of Sucker Punch means it wouldn't be a Justice League-level undertaking, but there's certainly reason to doubt that the director's cut would feature enough changes to make it a good movie. A fan campaign worked once before, though, and perhaps another one would be similarly successful.
Source: Empire

COMMENTS