I agree. JL was already going to be different and lighter than BvS from the get go. What they should have done is retain the fanbase, and expand upon it by JL being more friendly for more audiences.
What they ended up doing extremely stupidly, is a violent 180, in order to pander to those who didnt like the previous films. That resulted in losing the fanbase and interest they already had, and not convincing the people, who will rightly watch a Marvel film instead, which is competently made and delivers. The audience can see what a hackjob the theatrical cut, is and the BO shows.
Wonder Woman showed they could have easily struck a balance, keeping the old audience and bringing newer ones in. People who loved WW were ready to give JL a chance, but they ****ed it up. And they ended up alienating almost all audiences. Now you get articles like this :
Why Warner Bros. should have left Zack Snyders DCEU alone
Justice League Should Have Been More Like Batman V Superman
Maybe the problem with 'Justice League' is that it's not enough like 'Batman v Superman
https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2017/11/warner-bros-left-zack-snyders-dceu-alone/
https://screenrant.com/justice-league-too-safe-batman-v-superman/
http://mashable.com/2017/11/18/just...n/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link#tVAvYqc.YPqA
WB should have realised doing exactly what Marvel did in 2012 , will not help them. They had no ****ing novelty with this, this was generic. BvS, SS, WW...they build a lot of hype and excitement with their marketing because it had novelty. JL marketing couldnt do that, as they were desperately trying to be like what Marvel was 5 years back. The GA wont fall for that. The whole JL marketing campaign was them apologising for BvS, talking about the tone and what not, instead of hyping up the current movie. Market JL as Mad Max/300 with DC characters, and you have some novelty.
They ****ing threw all that potential away. Criminal.