Surprise, Surprise

A new report suggests this Fall’s Justice League was shown at an early screening for select fans. Wednesday morning, Batman-News reported that fans had been shown the film. There’s no mention of where the screening took place or who the film was shown to, but later in the day they managed to find some of the lucky viewers.

Here, the site first mentions the screening.

Later in the day they came into some inspiring comments.

That’s certainly encouraging for all DC fans. While this is no guarantee of quality, it’s heartening to hear Warner Bros. having the confidence to start screenings this early. There’s been no announcement regarding the end of filming. In fact, rumors have continued about the scale of the re-shoots under new director, Joss Whedon.

As these tweets remain the only proof so far, this could be more of a test-screen leak than an official screening. As Whedon is likely finishing up his cut of the film it makes sense for their to be screenings. Usually, big budget films begin test screenings as early as a year from their release. The films are often hilariously unfinished, with drawn storyboards in the place of visual effects.

However, the pacing and overall tone of the film being gauged by live audiences is important to the process. It can often make or break a Director’s vision and a studios wallet, Star Wars: Rogue One and Suicide Squad being recent examples.

The Winds of Change

Later in the day another tweet hinted at a rather big surprise regarding one of the supposed stars of the film.

This is interesting, to say the least. Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor was one of the more highly-criticized and polarizing parts of 2016’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. While he was never supposed to be the main villain in Justice League, Eisenberg has been mentioned since the film’s announcement.

BvS was a noticeably bloated affair. To see Lex excluded from the follow-up is disappointing, but if it means we’ll get a more straightforward film than it’s for the better. Luthor deserves to be the villain of an incredible story, not for just a scene or a glorified cameo. Whether or not this was Joss Whedon or Zack Snyder’s decision is unclear, but Justice League’s Steppenwolf seems to be more than enough for the Justice League to handle.