Self-described “visionary director” Zack Snyder’s version of Justice League is coming to HBO Max in 2021, but according to the filmmaker it might also get a theatrical release. Oh, and it’ll be probably be rated R because it’s Zack Snyder and he has never met a bad idea he didn’t love.
Talking to Entertainment Weekly, Snyder laid out his expectations for how the MPAA will react to his upcoming masterpiece.
“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,” Snyder tells EW. “We haven’t heard from the MPAA, but that’s my gut.”
Asked for details about what makes the new footage explicit, Snyder reveals, “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.”
Oh, for… No, keep it together. You got this.
I love The Boys just as much as the next guy, but is this really what anyone wants out of a Justice League movie? Who is this for? Are the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut chuds even asking for this?
Snyder went on to add that he thinks his four hour hard R superhero experiment will get a theatrical release as well. With Warner Bros. having announced that all their planned 2021 theatrical releases will get a same-day launch on HBO Max, he believes that the opposite will also play out for Justice League.
“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,” Snyder says. “So weirdly, it’s the reverse [of the trend].”
In any other situation, theaters would balk at the idea of an R-rated film with such a long runtime, but with the lack of theatrical release options and the (perhaps literally) rabid fanbase for this project it might just happen. You know, for the few theaters that are still open.
Not that it’s a good idea or anything, but with the way things are going this might as well happen too. I do wonder about the Venn diagram of Snyder fanboys and Covid-deniers though. I’m guessing there’s a lot of overlap.
