Warner Bros.’ Justice League landed in 2017, and it feels like that long since diehard Zack Snyder fans have been clamoring to see his take that got shelved when Joss Whedon was hired to pump out a theatrical version. Over the past year, especially, we’ve heard from various parties, who would allegedly be in the know, that the once-fabled “Snyder Cut” actually exists. Kevin Smith came first to warm up DC fans to the prospect before Jason Momoa claimed to have seen the “ssssiiicccckkkkkk” thing, and Momoa even showed off an apparently filmed incident that never surfaced from Whedon. In December 2019, Snyder further fueled rumors by posting a photo of film cans that showed off a 214-minute runtime for his version, and now fresh speculation — perhaps the most convincing that people have seen so far — suggests that if a Snyder Cut’s gonna surface, it might happen very soon.

Much of the excitement correlates with the fact that we’re about one week away from the HBO Max launch date of May 27. Given that Warner Bros.’ entire stable of superhero films (every Batman movie, Joker, just all of it) will be part of the immense HBO Max library, it really seems, logically, that if the Snyder Cut surfaces anywhere, putting it on HBO Max would make the most sense. I can’t think of a more immediately effective way for HBO Max to encourage nerds to sign up as fast as possible for a $14.99 subscription if they’re not already one of the lucky HBO subscribers who will get it rolled into their existing subscription. Also — and this might be telling — Snyder is going to host an event (formally, a Man of Steel Watch Party on Vero) on Wednesday, May 20, which some have speculated will include an announcement. Will that announcement be that the Snyder Cut will surface, you know, on HBO Max?

You be the judge. “Many of us are struggling during this difficult time,” Snyder recently tweeted. “Felt it could be cathartic to come together now for a Man of Steel Watch Party and celebrate the ultimate symbol of hope.” The director will also field a Q&A session.

So, what do we make of this? The timing of the HBO Max launch with this fresh round of speculation is one thing. The fact that this is all going down during a pandemic — when millions of people under quarantine, could use some hope, or at least something they’ll be happy watching — is another factor that makes people want to believe. And on top of that, DCEU Mythic’s Jeremy Conrad and (who tends to be at the forefront of rumors that happen to be later confirmed) seems to be leaning toward thinking that the Snyder Cut will actually surface, and soon. Read Conrad’s reasoning here. Trusted nerd voice Peter Sciretta of Slashfilm may now be a believer as well. 2020 is strange!

None of this speculation, of course, means that the fabled Snyder Cut is truly coming to HBO Max. We won’t now if that’s happening until it does, or until we hear some sort of joint announcement from Snyder, Warner Bros, and HBO Max.

If it happens, though, let’s just say that there’s gonna be a lot of very excited people. That will not only include hardcore nerds but also Gal Gadot and Ben Affleck, who have vocally added their voices to the chorus to demand the release as opposed to a few dissentors, including Man of Steel Henry Cavill, composer Danny Elfman, and, reportedly, Warner Bros. itself as of late last year. Yet as we know now, more than ever, things can change fast, so we’ll see what happens during Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel Watch Party on Wednesday.

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There are 73 episodes of Game of Thrones, and 68 of them have at least an 8.0 user rating on IMDB. That’s very good. IMDb ratings are an imperfect science, based on the whims of dudes with names like DothrakiLord666, but they are nonetheless valuable in discovering the general consensus among fans for the “best” and “worst” episodes.

For instance, “The Rains of Castamere,” “Hardhome,” “Battle of the Bastards,” and “The Winds of Winter” all have near-perfect 9.9s, and they are, objectively speaking, probably the four best episodes of Game of Thrones. Meanwhile, there are only two episodes below a 6: season eight’s “The Last of the Starks” (5.9) and the final episode of the series, “The Iron Throne” (4.6). To call the reaction to the Thrones finale “polarizing” would be an understatement, although Carice van Houten believes “some people” were/still are being “ungrateful” for questioning David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’ vision.

“The fact that some people were so disappointed is because everything before that was so good,” the actress, who played Melisandre, told Insider. “So it feels a bit ungrateful. You’ve had such great times and then yeah, you’re going to be disappointed because it’s not going to go exactly how you anticipated. Of course, you’re going to have all sorts of criticisms and I just thought it was a sign of how good the show was.”

At least now we know who to blame for season eight.

(Via Insider)

The latest Billboard Hot 100 chart was revealed yesterday (just the top ten spots, more accurately), and Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande’s “Stuck With U” claimed the top spot. Going into it, Tekashi 69 seemed to think his comeback single “Gooba” had a good chance of going No. 1, but a few days ago, he called out Billboard for what he thought was some shady accounting, which he believed was an effort to keep him from topping the Hot 100.

With all this criticism floating around, Billboard decided to offer a response to the rapper with an article on their website, titled “How Billboard Came to Its Calculations in This Week’s Race For the Hot 100 No. 1.”

The post begins by reiterating that Bieber and Grande’s song went No. 1 while “Gooba” debuted at No. 3. The post continues:

“This was met with some controversy on social media, as 6ix9ine had taken to Instagram shortly before the chart’s reveal to assert that streams of his single had been improperly discounted, and allege that the powers behind ‘Stuck With U’ had ‘bought’ their No. 1 through ill-gotten sales totals. […] In the interest of transparency, Billboard wanted to clear up the Hot 100’s chart rules and tabulation process, the calculations that go into the determinations of its final rankings, and the stats accumulated by the two singles that marked this week’s highest debuts. Here are the facts.”

From there, Billboard addresses specific criticisms levied against them by Tekashi. For example:

“The Hot 100 forecast 6ix9ine referenced in his Instagram video: The chart forecast referenced was not created nor provided by Billboard to the industry. Those with access to sales, streaming and radio data from various sources often create their own chart models and update them at their own frequency. Billboard does not distribute any Hot 100 ranking forecast to labels, management or artists.”

Also:

“6ix9ine’s claims that not all of his streams were properly counted: […] Each data provider provides a post-audit number to Billboard and Nielsen Music/MRC Data — excluding streams that do not meet long-standing charting parameters, such as U.S.-based-only plays, minimum play length, excessive plays and lack of user verification. This is applied to all songs from all artists.”

And:

“6ix9ine’s claims that ‘six credit cards’ were responsible for a hefty percentage of the ‘Stuck With U’ sales: Billboard and Nielsen Music/MRC Data conducts audits on all sales reported with access to purchase-level detail, and works with data partners to recognize excessive bulk purchases and remove those units from the final sales total. All titles this week, as in every week, were put under the same scrutiny.”

Read Billboard‘s full response here.

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“Ah, yes. I need that.” —me

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“I will always love her. And I know she will always love me.”

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“Ryan did not have any kind of stroke last night,” a representative for the host said.

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