Zack Snyder Thinks New ‘Justice League’ Cut Will Be Rated ‘R’; Says New Warner-HBO Max Theatrical Plan “Kind Of Throws A Monkey Wrench In The Works”

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Zack Snyder’s upcoming new cut of Justice League has changed so much, he believes the four-hour opus will be rated R.

“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,” the filmmaker revealed in an interview with EW “We haven’t heard from the MPAA, but that’s my gut.”

How does the PG-13 movie, which is expected to be dropped in episodes next year on HBO Max, get to a R rating?

Per Snyder, Ben Affleck’s Batman uses the F-word in one scene, Cyborg speaks his mind, and bad guy Steppenwolf is pretty violent “hacking people in half” says Snyder.

The Warner Bros filmmaker was asked about the elephant in the room that being the studio’s audacious theatrical-HBO Max day and day release strategy for their 2021 slate. Coincidentally, Snyder says the studio is looking to release his cut in theaters.

“It felt like a pretty bold move and that maybe the implication wasn’t 100 percent thought out,” he told EW. “I feel like there’s a lot of people panicking during COVID. I hope that, in the end, that’s what this was — some sort of knee-jerk to COVID and not some sort of greater move to disrupt the theatrical experience. I thought we were kind of already getting very close to the ideal theatrical window where you still had marketing material out there and you hadn’t forgotten about the film by the time it came out on DVD or streaming. I thought we were starting to hone in on that sweet spot, but this kind of throws a monkey wrench in the works.”

Justice League, which cost $300M, and which Snyder had to step away from during filming due to a family tragedy, wasn’t exactly Avengers at the box office grossing $658M. Joss Whedon took over and allegedly that’s when things got rocky on the set, according to Cyborg actor Ray Fisher who called out the director on social media this past summer saying his “on-set treatment of the cast and crew of Justice League was gross, abusive, unprofessional and completely unacceptable.” Fisher called on WarnerMedia to conduct an investigation of what went down, which they recently “concluded and remedial action has been taken.”

Warner Bros had no comment in regards to Snyder’s comments on Justice League‘s possible R-rating and theatrical release. Nothing official just yet.