“Justice League” Might Be An Rated-R Theatrical Release

Zack Snyder’s Justice League is one of the most highly anticipated projects of the last several years. The original cut of the film was released in 2017 to mddling to negative reviews and an apathetic audience. It’s widely agreed that the film, which Joss Whedon handled the reshoots for, was a mishmash of conflicting styles that didn’t really land.

In the wake of that colossal disappointment, the internet began clamoring to see Zack Snyder’s original cut. There was a huge movement and the cult director fanned the flames in every way he could, often releasing storyboards and confirming that his version did actually exist, at least in a rudimentary form.

And after years of struggle, Warner Bros. caved and announced that the SnyderCut of Justice League would be released on HBO Max. However, it was going to be changed to a 4-hour miniseries and even receive some small reshoots that would bring back Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, and even add Jared Leto’s Joker to the proceedings.

Now, it’s being speculated that the project could receive another theatrical release. During an interview with EW, Snyder discussed the possibility, stating that:

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].

Snyder goes further with his comments though, indicating that the film could receive an R-rating. The revised production is reportedly pushing the boundaries and will be very visceral and and action oriented. So the rating would come from violence and language, not nudity or anything like that. Specifically, Snyder said that:

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. 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.

The excitement for Justice League to re-release is palpable. The incredible disappointment was a rough pill for many fans to swallow and it had severe ramifications on the DCEU. Hopefully, Snyder’s R-rated original version will be enough to wipe away the bad taste of the Whedon release. While there is no guarantee the film will be featured in theaters upon release, it will come out on the HBO Max sometime in 2021.