Fans usually don’t get much say in the content that studios produce. For better or for worse, it’s usually a “take what you can get” situation.
Even when studios make horrible decisions about story arcs or the portrayal of some characters, at the end of the day, fans usually have to accept the movie as it is — because the other option would be not having any content at all. However, every
once in a while, studios do take fan opinions into account.
Take, for example, Warner Brothers’ decision regarding what has come to be known as “The Snyder Cut.” During the production of the “Justice League” movie, based on the DC Comics, the original director Zack Snyder stepped away from the production process, and Joss Whedon was brought in.
According to an article written for The Verge, “fans criticized Whedon’s contributions to the film, which included a lighter tone.” After the film’s release in 2017, many fans wanted to see Snyder’s original cut of the film, prompting the fan campaign to “release the Snyder cut.”
Finally, three years after the original film was released, in May of 2020, Warner Bros. announced that ”Zack Snyder’s Justice League” would be getting an official release on the streaming platform HBO Max. The release date is March 18.
Another studio swayed by fans is Disney, on the matter of the hit book series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.” This series, written by Rick Riordan, drew praise from many, including The New York Times, where critic Polly Shulman called the first book, “The Lightning Thief,” “worthy of Ovid.”
The movie adaptations, however, fell flat. Riordan himself said, “Once I saw the final script and saw what they were doing on the set, I realized I had to step away for my own peace of mind.”
The faithless adaptations left many fans unsatisfied, and petitions were created for Netflix or Disney to adapt the series. In 2019, a new opportunity arose, as Disney acquired 21st Century Fox, which had produced the movies. It seemed like a
perfect time for Disney to turn the books into a television miniseries for its now-launched streaming platform, Disney+, and fans started #DisneyAdaptPercyJackson. And just a little more than a year later, Riordan announced on Twitter that a series was in the works with Disney.
Perhaps the biggest fan-induced concession from a studio was ”Sonic the Hedgehog.” In 2019, Paramount Pictures released the first trailer for their upcoming picture, giving fans their first look at the digitally rendered video game character.
However, some found the design, in the words of an article written for Vulture, “‘creepy’ and ‘upsetting.’”
In response, the director himself, Jeff Fowler, announced that “The message is loud and clear… you aren’t happy with the design & you want changes. It’s going to happen.”
The movie’s release was delayed three months in order to complete the redesign. While movie studios certainly cannot bend to the whim of every fan, it is certainly good to know that they are listening. After all, who knows better what the fans want than the fans themselves?
