The times they are a changin’. I made the thread because the demand is there and Hollywood does seem to respond when there is significant demand (not that this is a form of petition or any call to action), the means might be unconventional but not unprecedented in the social media age.
I don’t think they’re really changing. I can’t think of any real examples of “Hollywood” increasingly giving into fan demand by releasing “fixed” versions of popular movies already in release. More often what happens is these extended versions are already being worked on before fans even start “demanding” anything. Another good example is the Batman v. Superman extended cut, which Snyder had already prepped for home video release even before people ever thought to ask for it. And again, that’s a Warner Bros title - “Hollywood” isn’t a single hive mind, many people at the different studios have different ideas on how to extend the life of a film once it leaves theaters. Warners has had a lot of success with the double- (and triple-) dip in the past, so they’re very amenable to letting directors and producers negotiate for longer versions of their movies on home video. Other studios don’t do this nearly as much, and there’s not a lot of evidence that I can see of other studios (or that one, even) putting extended and/or “fixed” versions of their films on home video as a direct response to fan wishlists.
Anyway, if the times were really changing the Snyder Cut of Justice League would have been released already, considering that’s the single most asked for “extended cut” in the past couple years. But so far that’s a big no-go, and that’s WITH one of the friendlier studios to extended home video cuts in charge.
I didn’t start this thread as confirmation of anything or a reaction to any news I read,
Oh I’m not saying you did, but the conversation being commented upon at this point isn’t really related to your original post anymore, and is primarly dedicated to the possibilities as presented via that Saltier Than Crait fanfic and the “news” report from the unheard-of-before-now website.
Still though - even if we set aside those two “sources” as the key basis to speculate on an extended cut, we’re still proceeding from a sort of broken premise, that asking Lucasfilm to give us an extended cut will actually work out in our favor. There’s an irony involved in people on Original Trilogy believing that demand will inevitably produce supply, haha. But the biggest problem is we have zero evidence that Abrams ever wanted to protect for an “extended cut” on home video later (so far as I know he’s never done this) and no evidence that either he or Lucasfilm were keeping that possibility open at any point during production. It’s hard to suggest the option might make itself available if nobody involved ever considered the option at all.
Not to say it’s impossible, but there’s not a lot going for it either.