Zack Snyder's Justice League will not be eligible for the new Fan-Favorite Award at this year's Oscars, despite widespread protestations. The new category will allow Twitter users to voice their support for their favorite film by tweeting with the hashtags #OscarsFanFavorite and #Sweepstakes up to 20 times per day, with voting taking place from February 14 to March 3. The eventual winner will be announced during the 2022 Academy Awards Broadcast on Sunday, March 27.
Zack Snyder's Justice League, also known as the "Snyder Cut," was a welcome instalment in the DC Extended Universe for many fans who were deeply disappointed in the 2017 Joss Whedon-directed Justice League film. The Whedon version, which Snyder was initially directing but left due to a family tragedy, was heavily re-shot and re-edited by the new director and the studio, eventually releasing to widespread condemnation. This sparked a campaign by fans, members of Justice League's crew and some members of the cast, including Ben Affleck, to have a version more faithful to Snyder's original released. Spearheaded by the #ReleaseTheSynderCut hashtag and a perseverant fan campaign, the movement was eventually successful when Warner Bros. decided to move forward with the Snyder Cut in 2020. The film released in 2021 following an additional $70 million in re-shoots, re-edits and visual effects to widespread fan acclaim and a much more favorable critical reception.
Fans of the Snyder Cut will be disappointed, however, to find out that the film is not eligible for the Fan Favorite category at the 2022 Oscars. As reported by Decider, the criteria for eligibility states that any entrant in the Fan Favorite category must be a film that was already eligible for the 94th Academy Awards, and Zack Snyder's Justice League is not listed as one of them. It would therefore not be eligible for any awards category, including Fan Favorite, no matter how many fans vote for it.
The Synder Cut's ineligibility will no doubt be a let down for those who fought hard to have the project released. The campaign, which began with disappointment at the so-called 2017 "Josstice League" version and a petition that gained 180,000 signatures, eventually bloomed into an internet-wide effort. However, there were some criticisms levelled at the movement, with some describing it as "toxic." Indeed, DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson eventually deleted her Twitter account after experiencing ongoing online harassment by members of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut camp. The reaction within the fanbase to the announcement of the Fan Favorite category has therefore mirrored the intensity of the initial support for #ReleaseTheSnyderCut, although this time their efforts are in vain.
What remains to be seen, however, is how the reaction to the announcement of this category will affect future Academy Awards nominations. There has been a substantial backlash to the supposed "snubbing" of Spider-Man: No Way Home at this year's Oscars for Best Picture, and the MCU film appears to be a shoe-in for the Fan Favorite award. With the broadening of the voter base, superhero and comic book movies are far more likely to receive awards, and those fans who have so fervently voted for Zack Snyder's Justice League may be able to shift the ballots in a direction they want in the years to come.
Source: Decider
