Why you really shouldn't care about movie reshoots

In the last year, the word "reshoot" has become notorious in the movie news cycle. Depending on who is reporting it and what franchise they are talking about, reshoots are either a standard procedure that is simply being reported as happening, or they are sign of major problems and trouble within a studio system for that particular movie. 

You know where I am going with this. If a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie has ordered reshoots, it's considered business as usual. If a DC Extended Universe movie orders reshoots, it's because the movie needs a lot of fixing from whoever is in charge of it, usually Zack Snyder. This is a narrative that we have had to live with and witness since the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, arguably the most polarizing comic book movie ever made. 

Now, no one really remembers any articles or major talk of reshoots for that movie, but the reason it started this recent wave of "reshoots mean trouble for DCEU" is because of the reshoots that were ordered for the movie after it, Suicide Squad. Word quickly spread that they were being added to give the movie more humor in the wake of the critical thrashing that BvS got for being too serious and dark, which to this day is still a laughably silly complaint, but it is what it is. At any rate, the reshoots ordered for Suicide Squad prompted this belief that reshoots were done for emergency fixes only, at least when it came to DCEU movies. So when Wonder Woman did the same thing, the same question was asked about why they were being done, instead of them being considered part of the movie making process that is pretty standard in Hollywood today. 

Now we have a new twist on the reshoot story with an old flavor to it. With Joss Whedon taking over duties on Justice League due to Snyder leaving in the wake of family tragedy, the reshoots that Snyder had already planned fell to Whedon to oversee, and the bloggers couldn't wait to speculate that these reshoots are not only extensive, but are intended to "fix" Justice League because WB didn't like what Snyder had done with it, when in fact it's the bloggers and critics that don't like it, based solely on their critical thrashings of Man of Steel and BvS. To be fair, the bloggers had precedence for believing such an idea since it had reportedly happened to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story last year, but that scenario involved massive enough reshoots that changed several key elements of the movie including the ending. Alright, so maybe the bloggers, despite ZERO word from WB that this is the case at all, have reason to believe a similar thing is happening with Justice League. 

The thing is, even if that WERE the case, which we haven't been given a reason to think it is, it simply doesn't matter. At all. Not one bit. 

When I first heard the Rogue One reshoot story last year, I found it intriguing but when the movie wasn't rescheduled or delayed, I put it out of my head before going to see the movie. I LOVED the movie, and despite the people that hate on it now, the audience genuinely liked it as well, to the tune of $1.056 billion at the box office. Oh, and that ending that was supposedly reshot? I wasn't the only one in the theater that got choked up over it. We loved every bit of it. Not bad for a movie that brought in another director in Tony Gilroy to fix several issues within it. 

That was a case where the producers openly didn't like what was going on and wanted changes, very much like what is happening now with the Han Solo movie. By all accounts, that is not what is happening with Justice League, but even if it was, why do we care about that at all? What effect will it have on the enjoyment we hope to feel in November when we go see the movie? Well, it SHOULDN'T have any effect, but if you go into the movie knowing about these reshoots and are told that they are meant to "fix" things in the movie, you're either going to be happily looking for what was "fixed" or angrily looking for it, and the odds are you won't find it either way on that very first watch. If you do, then you probably missed a good chunk of the actual movie just looking for a fix. 

There's nothing good about an article on reshoots that will benefit you going into a movie. At all. If anything, knowing about reshoots on a movie is a distraction and can completely affect how you watch the movie from the point that you know, as opposed to watching it "clean" without being aware of it. Outside of preparing you for when a movie release has been pushed back, what is knowing about reshoots going to gain you for seeing the movie? Nothing objective, that's for sure. 

So then why do reshoot articles exist? Especially when some of them clearly intend to make people fearful of the movie's process? Well, think about how many months we have until Justice League comes out. If it's a slow news day and nothing else is going on, what are you going to write about? That's the day you find your completely anonymous source that told you how WB has to digitally erase Henry Cavill's mustache because he wasn't allowed to shave it off for Mission: Impossible 6. Then you add in how much those reshoots are costing since it's a higher number than what you commonly see with other movies, taking advantage of how few people actually know what that number is on average. 

Now look, in terms of the actual information on reshoots being reported, that's one thing. These writers have a job to do and that's understood for the most part. That's not the issue. The issue is calling certain reshoots "trouble" "cause for concern" or "extensive," especially in cases where actual parties involved in those reshoots say otherwise. If you want to tell people that they are happening that is fine, but to make them seem out of the ordinary or a reason for people to be worried is not fine at all. That is sensationalism and editorializing and it has no place in news journalism, of course. 

The bottom line is that reshoots are nothing to panic or even be concerned about. They should not affect your ability to enjoy the actual movie when it is released because they are part of the process with big budget film productions. Remember that the next time you see another piece written about ANY movie that has ordered reshoots. Just move along from it and wait until the actual movie releases to make your determination on the film itself. Don't make it months earlier because of a reshoot article that any outlet tossed at you for clicks.