Zack Snyder’s Justice League may be heading to theaters after all, and it’s probably going to be R-rated. This, according to Snyder himself, who has revealed some new details about his fabled cut of the DC Comics superhero movie. The so-called Snyder Cut will be arriving on HBO Max as a miniseries next year. But, according to Snyder, WarnerMedia is exploring the notion of a theatrical release as well.
First thing’s first. The Snyder Cut is going to feature a ton of new footage, with the new movie clocking in at just under four hours. That’s why it’s being split up as a miniseries. All of the new footage, along with what Zack Snyder added in the reshoots, has given the whole thing a harder edge, it would seem. Here’s what Snyder had to say about it in a recent interview.
“Here’s one piece of information nobody knows: The movie is insane and so epic and is probably rated R, that’s one thing I think will happen, that it will be an R-rated version, for sure. We haven’t heard from the MPAA, but that’s my gut.”
While the MPAA hasn’t handed down a ruling just yet, if Zack Snyder suspects this new version of Justice League will be R-rated, it’s a safe bet. But perhaps the more appealing element for fans who have been dying to see Snyder’s vision brought to life is that the filmmaker is speaking with the studio about some sort of theatrical run. How, precisely, that would work, remains to be seen but here’s what he had to say.
“I’m a huge fan and a big supporter of the cinematic experience, and we’re already talking about Justice League playing theatrically at the same time it’s coming to HBO Max. So weirdly, it’s the reverse [of the trend].”
WarnerMedia recently revealed that its entire 2021 movie slate will debut on HBO Max and in theaters simultaneously. The move has proved to be controversial. Be that as it may, it seems the studio may, retroactively, be adding Zack Snyder’s Justice League to that list. Considering that they are spending an extra $70 million on a movie that was initially a financial failure at the box office, it makes sense that they would want to capitalize as much as possible. Speaking more specifically about why the movie may be stamped with an R rating, Snyder had this to say.
“There’s one scene where Batman drops an F-bomb. Cyborg is not too happy with what’s going on with his life before he meets the Justice League, and he tends to speak his mind. And Steppenwolf is pretty much just hacking people in half. So [the rating would be due to] violence and profanity, probably both.”
Zack Snyder originally departed Justice League well into production. Joss Whedon stepped in, with massive rewrites and reshoots taking place during his tenure. The theatrical version, released in 2017, did not represent Snyder’s original vision. His new version will include the villain Darkseid, among many other changes. No release date has been revealed at this time but it is expected in early 2021. This news comes to us via Entertainment Weekly.
