Director Zack Snyder’s sci-fi epic “Rebel Moon” debuted on Netflix late last year, and the sequel, “Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver,” premieres on the streaming service in April, but there’s more. We already knew a director’s cut of the film, or films, was coming, but in what shape or form exactly? In a new interview I Minutemen, Snyder has revealed all, confirming that each of his “Rebel Moon” movies will get director’s cuts, they’ll be about six hours in length and Netflix will likely release them both on the same day.
“Those will come out, probably, on the same day – later,” Snyder told the YouTube channel. “We don’t have a date yet, but I think it’s going to be in the summer.”
“They’re each about an hour longer than the originals, the PG-13 [versions]. So it’ll be nice to see the six hours together,” he continued. “You can take a break, of course. It’s a more, maybe, immersive experience. I’m interested for people to see it that way. It’s very adult, it’s very R-rated.”
Snyder promised a lot of sex and violence in the R-rated versions and explained the reason he was able to make the hard-R extended director’s cuts was that he made a deal with Netflix to release the PG-13 versions to audiences first.
Either way, it’s a hugely ambitious ploy, unlike anything that Netflix has ever done. But as Snyder explained in interviews earlier this summer, all of the R-rated director’s versions were baked into the original budget, so, in the end, the streamer will get four versions of the movie for the price of two.
Now, the question will be. Will audiences or critics take differently to the films? It is a big, ambitious gamble for Netflix with a hefty price tag. “Rebel Moon” was mostly savaged by critics upon its release in December. The first film has a dismal 21% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and even the audience metric, generally much more favorable from the lenient fans, sits at a poor 58%.
It might be safe to say that these director’s cuts are going to be for ride-or-die hardcore fans only, but maybe this is what Netflix is banking on since they’ve basically doubled down on Snyderverses with “Rebel Moon” and “The Army Of The Dead” franchise. Will there be more from either universe? ‘Army’ sequels are in development, but unless something turns around for “Rebel Moon,” these four versions might be all you’ll ever get. Watch the full interview below.