| "Justice for the World" films | |||||||
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| “ | From the director of 300, Watchmen, Man of Steel, Rebel Moon | „ |
— Tagline |
| “ | Survive judgement | „ |
— Tagline |
Survival of the Justice for the World is a 2033 science-fiction dystopian film co-written, directed, shot and produced by Zack Snyder. It is the fourth film installment in the Justice for the World film series, and takes place in the time-jump in Justice for the End of the World, between the initial asteroid impact and the final stand that humanity makes against the aliens. The film stars Maika Monroe, Miles Fisher, Nicholas D'Agosto, Lucas Black, Patrick Wilson, Alessandra de Rossi and Alicia Silverstone, with Monroe reprising her role as Patricia Peterson in the first three films.
After Zack Snyder and Warner Bros. Pictures made amends, Snyder was interested in directing an entry in the franchise. Producer Mary Parent, and director-writer-producer of the first three films, Roland Emmerich, allowed him to. After preparing a story with co-writer Shay Hatten, Snyder brought in Kurt Johnstad to finalize the screenplay. Emmerich himself and Harald Kloser would write in several changes and other plot beats. Monroe was cast in the film, alongside Fisher as the two leads. Principal photography ran from April 2032 to September 2032.
Survival of the Justice for the World debuted in CinemaCon on May 14, 2033, and was theatrically released worldwide on June 10, to mixed reviews, citing praise towards its visual effects, action sequences and tone, but was criticized for its pacing and screenplay. The film grossed $545.6 million, against a budget of $198-223 million, making it a box office success, and the seventh-highest grossing film of 2033. A director's cut was released on August 30, 2033, while a sequel, titled Justice for the World: Brothers in Arms, was released October 20, 2036.
Plot[]
The asteroid accelerates towards Earth as a streak of light into Earth's atmosphere. As soon as bystanders watch, immediately, the asteroid impacts the Earth at the heart of Yellowstone, sending a giant shockwave and ash cloud across the world, burying the Eastern Hemisphere in smoke and debris. Said shockwave initiates into a firestorm that spreads across the world. Due to the rupture in the Earth's crust by the impact, the supervolcano in the National Park erupts, causing states nearby to have their cities be toppled and plumed to ruins by lava. Just then, aliens started to crawl out, with laser weaponry and ships.
With Washington D.C. in ruins, Patricia Peterson and her cousin, Elliot, who was with her at this time, ushered President Warring and his family into a bunker. However, it was too late and the White House was swept by a giant dustbowl, crumbling the White House. Miraculously, both of them survived, along with the President's family. Among the ruins, they saw another group of people emerge from the ruins, that being President Warring, his two sons and his wife. The two gathered together, before an incoming alien blitzkrieg was approaching, and hid under the rubble. The group knew that if they were to survive, they would have to stick together.
After gathering all the ammunition they could get from the near-destroyed armory, they trekked North for days in hopes of finding other survivors, setting up camp near an entrance to Baltimore, Maryland. As they laid to rest, one of the sons, whose name is Eric, talks to Han and Elliot about the policies of President Warring. Another dust storm approaches the group, but this time there is a small squadron of alien fighters approaching. They hide under their tents, in hopes of the aliens not detecting them. They go safely unnoticed.
The next morning, Eric, and his younger brother, Han, decide to search any abandoned food shops in Baltimore. Armed with an AR-15, M9 and a few hand grenades, they barge into a 7/11, only to find the shelves mostly empty. They gathered what they could, but, once they head over to the fridge room, where they heard a banging sound, the two find a woman hoarding the entire stockpile of the store. The woman, who had been feasting for the past couple days, lost her family in the invasion. Her name was Emily Blanchard, and she brings a chunk of the supplies back to camp with Eric and Han. Once she properly exchanges names, an alien ship spots them and starts to shoot at them. Eric manages to shoot out the engine of the ship, which made the ship crash. But that only alerted the nearby aliens to start patrolling the place.
The group head into Baltimore, where they find more weapons, including a multi-shot rocket launcher. Using their ammunition, which included rifles, hand grenades, and that multi-shot rocket launcher, they were able to buy themselves enough time to hijack a Western Star semi-trailer truck (with its trailer), and steal two plasma rifles from the aliens. They drive South past Washington to Richmond, Virginia. But before they could get there, two ships that have been tailing them started shooting at them again. Eric, Patricia and Han start to shoot at the ships, taking one down successfully. However, rather than crashing and burning with the ship, the alien ejected with an anti-gravity motorbike from the cockpit, quickly gaining on them. A stray shot from the second ship, however, caused the truck to tip over and flip on its side, causing the bike to crash into the middle of the trailer, which collided with the ground and exploded.
As that second ship regained its focus, it aimed at the President, who was at the driver's seat, and his wife sitting next to him, before a load of rockets bombarded the ship, destroying it. The launcher was held by Emily. Seeing an abandoned GMC Topkick in the distance, and another hoard approaching them, Emily tells the family to go and drive away as far as they could. While the President, his wife, Han, Elliot and Patricia run off, Eric stays with her, willing to give up his life to defend his family. They make one last adamant stand, killing several aliens, before being bombarded by plasma lasers.
The survivors' final destination planned was Lexington, Kentucky, in their last hope of finding other survivors, seeing as their only other survivor was killed off. Upon arriving, they were left to see another abandoned city. Just as they were about to leave for any bunkers nearby, another alien ship spotted them, and started to shoot the group again. A stray shot hits a building, causes it to collapse. As the President hits the accelerator, the trio of Patricia, Elliot and Han keep on shooting from the back of the Topkick, however, due to the constant rubble falling in seconds, and the rough terrain, Elliot gets thrown out of the car and gets buried under the rubble. They finally shoot it down, the explosion happening right in front of the wreckage of the building.
The group finally make it to a bunker nearby Lexington, where they found more survivors in it. Patricia plans to get revenge of the aliens, not just for the world, but also for his close cousin.
In an end-credits scene, Elliot is seen digging himself out of the rubble, and finally walking out of a destroyed city block, before finding an abandoned motorcycle and riding off, hoping to reunite with his cousin.
Main credits[]
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Director - Zack Snyder
- Screenwriters - Zack Snyder & Shay Hatten & Kurt Johnstad and Roland Emmerich & Harald Kloser
- Storywriters - Zack Snyder & Shay Hatten
- Producers - Mary Parent, Roland Emmerich, Harald Kloser, Zack Snyder and Deborah Snyder
- Executive producers - Wesley Coller, Shay Hatten, Bergen Swanson, Ute Emmerich, William Fay, Volker Engel and Thomas Tull
- Director of photography - Zack Snyder
- Production designer - Patrick Tatopoulos
- Visual effects supervisor - John 'D.J.' Des Jardin
- Film editors - Dody Dorn
- Music composers - Tom Holkenborg
Cast[]
- Main article: List of characters in Justice for Love duology
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Maika Monroe as Patricia Peterson
- Miles Fisher as Elliot Peterson, former U.S. Navy captain and cousin of Patricia
- Nicholas D'Agosto as Eric Warring, friend of Elliot Peterson during the apocalypse, son of Joshua and Rosa Warring, and the brother of Han Warring
- Lucas Black as Han Warring
- Patrick Wilson as Joshua Warring
- Alessandra de Rossi as Rosa Watson-Warring
- Alicia Silverstone as Emily Blanchard
Marion Cotillard, Mark Rylance, Yasmien Kurdi and Isabelle Abiera appear in uncredited cameos as Mary Tate, William Dawson, "Salvacion" and "Concepcion" respectively, from archival footage from Justice for the End of the World, the former two as they get swept away by the firestorm, and latter two as they watch the incoming asteroid. Frank Welker provided sound effects for the aliens in this film.
Production[]
Development[]
Years after his time of Netflix, Zack Snyder had managed to make amends with Warner Bros. Pictures again, with 300: Blood and Ashes being a box office success for him and the studio. After watching the three installments of the Justice for the World film series, Snyder was interested in directing a film installment, whether it was a prequel or a sequel. Producer Mary Parent, and director-writer-producer of the first three films, Roland Emmerich, allowed him to, with Emmerich himself admitting to loving Snyder's style. Snyder was officially announced to write and direct an installment, on October 2031. On Twitter, he came out saying;
| “ | Never thought I'd direct another film with the word "Justice" in the title! | „ |
— Zack Snyder, after he was announced to direct the film by Centropolis, referencing his Justice League film |
Pre-production and writing[]
Zack Snyder, writer, director, producer and cinematographer of the film
When Snyder came about to developing the story, he was unsure of whether to make a sequel to the upcoming War for Justice Across Worlds, which had wrapped filming, or to make his own spin-off of a film. He had decided to write a story that would take place in between the events of the initial asteroid collision in the first film, and the stand that humanity makes in said first film. He brought on Shay Hatten to co-write, whom previously collaborated with Snyder for Army of the Dead, Army of Thieves, Rebel Moon and Rebel Moon - Part 2. It would center around a cousin of Patricia surviving alongside her, throughout the story, and the two would be separated, explaining why the cousin would not be featured in any of the previous installments, implying that the cousin was dead. The cousin's first choice name was Elliot, and stuck throughout all of production. Snyder wrote the story into a screenplay with Hatten and Kurt Johnstad, who worked on him with 300, 300: Rise of an Empire, Rebel Moon and Rebel Moon - Part 2. When deciding when to separate the leading two, the three first tried to do the halfway point, but they didn't to waste time on two separate subplots. Instead, they decided to write it to fit into the last 10% of the film. They worked the story from "beginning and end, converging into the middle," as Snyder put it.
Roland Emmerich and Harald Kloser also had time to write out their own ideas into the script. Although it is unknown about everything they've changed, Emmerich did come out and say that they did rewrite the climax from Snyder's original intended vision, although Emmerich assured Snyder before filming that it was "close."
Rather than opting for a humanoid design that the first three films went for, Snyder decided to make the alien antagonists of the film much more exotic and unnatural. Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc. provided creature designs and effects for the film, citing inspirations from the Xenomorph in the Alien films and the Harvester Queen from 2016's Independence Day: Resurgence, However, Roland Emmerich still asked for the shape to ultimately be humanoid, as he felt that "making these creatures too exotic would break continuity."
On November 2031, three months after War for Justice Across Worlds finished filming, Maika Monroe, Lucas Black, Patrick Wilson and Alessandra de Rossi were announced to return. Miles Fisher and Nicholas D'Agosto were announced to be in the film on January 2032, with Fisher, starring with Monroe, as Elliot Peterson. Two weeks after the announcement, Alicia Silverstone was announced to be in the film. Snyder casted her to be Emily Blanchard, an intentional reference to the lead character in the unmade 2023 remake of the original, which was later released as a graphic novel. Silverstone was paid $1.5 million for her involvement, which made her the highest-paid cast member attached to the film.
Filming[]
Principal photography ran from April 2032 to September 2032, with Snyder himself serving as cinematographer, after doing so for Army of the Dead, and the Rebel Moon films. He shot the film with the same cameras used for 2013's Man of Steel, Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2 cameras and C-Series anamorphic lenses, which would be in the CinemaScope widescreen aspect ratio. He shot the film in Richmond, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland, although he also shot in Yellowstone National Park and Olympic National Park for the opening and any barren setting the characters walk through.
Snyder, despite its dense population, wanted to shoot in Richmond and Baltimore, due to how "the large structures being so worn, destroyed and broken show how much damage the aliens have done, post-impact. Asteroids are tough, but aliens are just a whole new level." He also considered how some of these characters hadn't even left Washington, D.C. in the first film, and how he wanted to maintain continuity well. Several city blocks had to be shut down for several weeks, just to get the right shots for the final film, which angered certain citizens. In response, the city hall councils of Richmond and Baltimore closed down filming for two months, before Snyder returned during September. During that time, he shot any other scenes he could in Warner Bros.'s Leavesden Film Studios.
Post-production[]
Weta FX, Moving Picture Company and DNEG provided the visual effects for the film, with John "DJ" DesJardin served as the visual supervisor for the film. Due to its post-apocalyptic nature, Weta and DNEG worked on creating several CG environments, such as recreating Richmond and Baltimore into an entire apocalyptic environment, keying out any strays or extras that got in the initial shot. Weta also provided the CG for the aliens that the characters fight. MPC also provided the effects for the aliens, as well as any alien vehicles that were utilized.
Originally, the film didn't have the cameos by Marion Cotillard, Mark Rylance, Yasmien Kurdi and Isabelle Abiera, through archival footage from Justice for the End of the World. However, because Snyder wanted to let the audience know that the film takes place during the first film, Snyder had editor Dody Dorn put in the archival footage, with minor changes to them, such as color grading, aspect ratio and the brightness of the fireball from the impact and firestorm, with both being slightly brighter and yellower than in the first film.
Music[]
The film's score was composed by Tom Holkenborg, a collaborator of Snyder's, since 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Using the original theme as a template, he changed the key by 2 semitones down, creating a much deeper sound. He also used metal clanging sound of a hammer to emulate hard percussion, describing it as "control noise," similar to how he made the score for Terminator: Dark Fate.
Marketing[]
At 2032 SnyderCon, Zack Snyder was asked how the progress for Justice for the World 4 was going, to which he replied, "You'd be surprised on how soon it would come," which later he unraveled a teaser poster on stage, which he later posted to his Vero account. A month later, the first teaser trailer dropped for the film. At 2032 San Diego Comic-Con, the film was promoted by Snyder, Roland Emmerich, Maika Monroe, Miles Fisher and Alicia Silverstone, where the full trailer and official poster was showcased, and where Amy Heckerling also made a surprise appearance. Then the trailer was released online, a week after the event. The film promoted again on 2033 WonderCon by Snyder, Silverstone and Monroe. Tom Holkenborg also asked Hans Zimmer to promote the film in one of his concerts. In total, the marketing for the film cost around $105 million.
The film's novelization, written by Greg Keyes, was published on June 2 by Titan Books, and the art book The Art of Survival of the Justice for the World, which was written by Snyder himself, was released on June 16.
Release[]
Theatrical[]
Survival of the Justice for the World debuted at CinemaCon, on May 14, 2033, before being released worldwide on June 10, 2033, in IMAX, 3D, Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, 4DX, and ScreenX. The film was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, except for China, Japan and Philippines, where the film was distributed by Universal Pictures, Toho Co. Ltd. and GMA Pictures. Like previous installments, Toho and GMA Pictures released the film with Japanese and Tagalog dubs respectively. While the film retained its PG-13 rating of its predecessors, internationally, it was rated "15," being the first in the series, as the previous films were rated "12."
Home media[]
The film was released on Digital HD on August 16, 2032, and released on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD on September 1, 2033. The 4K release includes HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision high dynamic range, and a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. Best Buy made a full four-disc set with the previous three films.
On August 30, 2033, the film released its director's cut, which added around 18 minutes more footage, with extended action sequences and certain dialogue scenes. Titled Zack Snyder's Justice for the World, (as a nod to Zack Snyder's Justice League). it was paired with the theatrical cut on some sets, while being released as a four-disc set with the first three films. Six months after the director's cut came out, Best Buy released a five-disc set, with the previous three films and the theatrical cut of the film.
Toho released multiple editions of the film on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD in Japan on September 12, 2033. Like the first three films, it was released with Japanese dubs. GMA Pictures, however, did not release the film on the same date in the Philippines, for unknown reasons. It was only until on November 3, Asteroid Clara‘s seventh anniversary, that they released the film in the country.
Reception[]
Box office[]
Survival of the Justice for the World grossed $164.5 million in the domestic box office, and $381.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $545.1 million. It became Snyder's fourth-highest grossing film, with it being his fourth-highest grossing film domestically, and second-highest grossing film in foreign territories. Its opening weekend earned $190 million, including $80.4 million domestically.
In China, it opened with $88.4 million, the highest opening in the franchise at the time for the country, and grossed $240.1 million in total. In Japan, the film opened with $15.7 million, before grossing a total of $42.7 million. In the Philippines, the film opened with $6.8 million, before going on to gross $14.6 million in total.
Deadline Hollywood reported the film made $76.7 million in net profit, after factoring all expenses and revenues.
Critical reception[]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 43% based on 381 reviews, with an average rating of 5.60/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Survival of the Justice for the World puts the post-apocalyptic nature in the forefront, and with Zack Snyder, it can be divisive on how it is represented." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 49 out of 100 based on 50 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 79%, and a 62% "definite recommend."
Accolades[]
| Award | Ceremony date | Category | Recipients | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visual Effects Society Awards | March 15, 2034 | Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature | John 'D.J.' Des Jardin, Kevin Andrew Smith, Tamara Watts Kent, Dan Lemmon and Neil Corbould | Nominated |
| Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal or Animated Project | Neil Corbould, David Brighton, Mark Holt and Keith Dawson | Nominated | ||
| Golden Raspberry Awards | February 18, 2034 | Worst Prequel, Remake, Ripoff or Sequel | Survival of the Justice for the World | Nominated |
| Saturn Awards | October 11, 2033 | Best Science Fiction Film | Nominated | |
| Best Editing | Dody Dorn | Nominated | ||
| Best Special Effects | John 'D.J.' Des Jardin, Kevin Andrew Smith, Dan Lemmon and Neil Corbould | Nominated | ||
| Satellite Awards | March 18, 2034 | Best Visual Effects | Nominated | |
| People's Choice Awards | December 10, 2033 | The Action Movie of the Year | Survival of the Justice for the World | Nominated |
| The Male Movie Star of the Year | Miles Fisher | Nominated | ||
| The Female Movie Star of the Year | Maika Monroe | Nominated | ||
| MTV Movie & TV Awards | May 12, 2034 | Best Duo | Miles Fisher and Maika Monroe | Nominated |
| BAFTA Awards | February 12, 2034 | Best Special Visual Effects | John 'D.J.' Des Jardin, Kevin Andrew Smith, Dan Lemmon and Neil Corbould | Nominated |
Sequels[]
- Main article: Justice for the World: Brothers in Arms
- Main article: Justice for the World: End of Times
- Main article: Justice for the World: The Final Fate
A fifth installment, acting as a standalone sequel, titled Justice for the World: Brothers in Arms, was released on October 20, 2036, starring Tom Cruise and Dwayne Johnson, to positive reviews and critical acclaim, and grossed $943.9 million. Two entries, Justice for the World: End of Times and Justice for the World: The Final Fate were released on September 2, 2038 and September 1, 2039, respectively. Both films were critically acclaimed, with both receiving Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, and McQuarrie being nominated for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for The Final Fate. The Final Fate became the highest-grossing film in the franchise, grossing $1.125 billion.
Trivia[]
- This is the first installment in the series where it was not nominated for an Academy Award.
- It was on the Oscar shortlist for Best Visual Effects, but did not make it into the final nominations.
- This is the first installment in the series where it won none of the awards it was nominated for.
- The film marked the return of Alicia Silverstone in an action blockbuster film following 1997's Batman & Robin.
- According to Zack Snyder's wife, Deborah, he asked Amy Heckerling if she wanted to receive an honorary "executive producer" credit. She declined the offer, stating, "It's one thing for a surprise appearance at a convention panel. It's another to have your name attached to a series, which deviated so much from what I would've liked to had to begin with."
- Snyder explained that the reason for asking her that was due to Alicia Silverstone's character, Emily Blanchard, which was an intentional nod to Silverstone's character in the initial remake, slated for release in 2023.
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