Widescreen: Alternate versions of your favorite movies that you should avoid

"Zack Snyder's Justice League," the four-hour revision of the 2017 would-be blockbuster by its original director, arrives on HBO Max this weekend after years of rumors and social-media campaigning.

Millions were spent on shooting new scenes - and finishing ones that were abandoned after Warner Bros. brought in "Avengers" director Joss Whedon to radically change Snyder's DC superhero mash-up. The result will almost certainly be a better film, one closer to the original vision of the director who also made "Man of Steel" and "Batman V Superman."

But taking a second (or third) pass at a popular movie isn't always a good idea; for every "Blade Runner: The Final Cut," there is a "Star Wars: Special Edition." Here are three of the most damaging alternate versions of acclaimed films:

"Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Special Edition"

There are three different versions of Steven Spielberg's 1977 alien-visitor classic in circulation, and thankfully the superior director's cut (sometimes called the "Collector's Edition") is the one most readily available on home video and TV. The 1980 "Special Edition," however, is to be avoided thanks to a tacked-on ending that ruins the magic of Roy Neary's (Richard Dreyfuss) journey to the stars. Whatever we imagine to be inside that Christmas tree of a spaceship is much more satisfying than actually seeing it.

"Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut"

Richard Kelly's 2001 curiosity became a cult classic on DVD as viewers obsessively re-watched it, trying to unravel the time-bending mystery of angsty teen Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) and a creepy blue rabbit named Frank. The 2004 director's cut makes the mistake of solving some of those mysteries with extremely unsatisfying answers. (I'd also recommend not listening to Kelly's commentary track on the theatrical cut DVD for the same reason.) And even worse: The director's cut replaces some of the original film's soundtrack choices, which were key to its haunting effect. Swapping out Echo & The Bunnymen's "The Killing Moon" for INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart"? Unforgivable.

"Amadeus: Director's Cut"

When I was growing up, Milos Forman's Oscar winner about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce) and his musical rival Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) was in that pantheon of great films, an accessible costume epic that was surprisingly funny and introduced younger viewers to the joys of classical music. The film's reputation has waned in the last 10-15 years, and this 2002 revision is to blame. Forman's cut, which is now the only one commercially available, adds 20 agonizing minutes that A) kill the film's momentum, B) damage our opinion of Salieri, the film's narrator and protagonist, and C) humiliate Mozart's wife, Stanzi (Elizabeth Berridge). It simply has too many notes. Now that Forman has sadly passed on, Warner Bros. owes it to the film, its fans and its future fans to restore and rerelease the theatrical cut.

• Sean Stangland is an assistant news editor.