The Snyder Cut is set to release on March 18th, but some viewers already got a truly inexplicable sneak peek today — quite a few people trying to watch the Tom and Jerry movie on HBO Max were instead shown the upcoming R-rated version of Justice League (via The Hollywood Reporter). I guess you could say Warner Bros. really let the cat out of the bag.
HBO confirmed that, yes, this did in fact happen: “Zack Snyder’s Justice League was temporarily available on HBO Max and the error was addressed within minutes,” a spokesperson tells The Verge. At this moment, It’s unclear if this error was worldwide, or if the Snyder Cut only showed up in certain regions.
A few Verge staff tried the trick for ourselves, but were instead greeted by the rapping NYC pigeons that open the Tom and Jerry movie. Even if we made it through, The Hollywood Reporter says viewers were only to see about an hour of the four-hour long Snyder Cut. While probably not enough of the movie to satisfy fans, it may have been just enough to traumatize kids whose parents were just trying to babysit them with cat-and-mouse hijinks. Or make them lifelong DC fans. No judgment here.
This is probably not how fans planned to experience the movie — imagine sitting down with a charcuterie board to watch Tom and Jerry, only to realize in horror that your $130 Justice League meal kit hasn’t arrived yet? Imagine campaigning for years to get the Snyder Cut released in the first place, only to get beaten to a viewing by a bunch of parents and kids.