Written By Kieran Bugg
Rebel Moon will have extended R-rated editions that will enable director Zack Snyder to fulfill fans’ desire for a violent Star Wars. Although Rebel Moon is not a Star Wars project, it was originally intended to be one. Certainly, Lucasfilm would never allow Snyder to produce the graphic carnage audiences are expecting here, especially with the R-rated cuts.
In spite of his poor treatment over at Warner Bros., Snyder still managed to come out on top. Even with the poor critical reception to his DC movies, fans still wanted his vision for Justice League to be completed. On the other hand, the versions of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League that polarized reviewers were the victims of studio interference. Director Joss Whedon trashed the latter.
Nonetheless, with his fan base growing larger by the day, Snyder managed to grab the attention of Netflix. The director signed a massive multi-million dollar deal with the streaming giant to produce various movies for them. His first production for Netflix was an instant hit.
Rebel Moon: R-rated Cuts Allows Zack Snyder To Make Violent Star Wars
Image: Netflix
Still, one of the filmmaker’s greatest ambitions was to direct a Star Wars movie for Lucasfilm. Furthermore, he even pitched his original idea to the studio but it was sadly abandoned following Disney’s acquisition in 2012. Snyder’s story was intended to be a more of a mature take on the Star Wars universe.
Thankfully, his partnership with Netflix has given him the opportunity to create his own epic space opera franchise. Rebel Moon will be split into two parts and will be an adaptation of Snyder’s original screenplay.
Both films will receive a limited theatrical release and will be available to stream on Netflix later this year. The scheduled release date is currently set for December 22.
A synopsis for the upcoming two-part sci-fi blockbuster reads:
“A peaceful colony on the edge of the galaxy is threatened by the armies of a tyrannical regent named Balisarius. The desperate civilians dispatch Kora, a young woman who has a mysterious past to seek out warriors from nearby planets to help them challenge the regent.”
Following his turbulent experience at Warner Bros., Snyder has been given full creative freedom on both movies. This means that we’ll see an R-rated Rebel Moon as well as a PG-13 version.
Rebel Moon: R-rated Cuts Allows Zack Snyder To Make Violent Star Wars
Image: Netflix
In a new interview, re-recording mixer Andy Koyama was the first to drop this exciting news. Koyama revealed:
“We just did the first temp mix for the preview of part one, and it’s very exciting. It’s a big, huge, space – they probably don’t want me to say this – ‘Star Wars’-y, ‘rebels against the evil empire’ thing over all sorts of different worlds,” he teased. “It’s really fun. There’s going to be two films. I think we’re mixing that from June to February. And there’s also going to be extended R-rated versions of each of the two films, so we’re going to be mixing four different features.”
Rebel Moon is already one of the most hotly anticipated movies of 2023. Now knowing there will be a cut of both films for all ages, it’s likely it’ll be a much bigger hit. Indeed, Rebel Moon has the potential to reach two large groups of followers. First of all, there are the legions of Snyder fans who still dream of new DC work from him. Secondly, there are Star Wars followers who want more edginess in their space operas.
Rebel Moon satisfies both crowds.