Zack Snyder's Reasoning For Releasing Rebel Moon In Two Cuts Makes Zero Sense To Fans
The filmmaker intends to release an inferior "regular" cut along with the extended cut, rather than delivering just one complete experience.
Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon: Part One - A Child of Fire, an upcoming space opera movie, just got its first official teaser trailer, and so far it looks pretty impressive.
The film was originally conceived as a dark and R-rated addition to the Star Wars franchise, but unfortunately for many fans, negotiations with Disney were unsuccessful, so the director decided to do it as an original project.
However, there is one aspect of the movie that doesn't make sense to many fans, and some even find it quite obnoxious and annoying.
It was initially announced that the first part of the space epic would be released in two cuts, a standard PG-13 one and an extended R-rated one.
Now it seems that the latter will not only contain the occasional gory scene, but "close to an hour of extra content," making it a full-fledged director's cut.
This isn't the first time Snyder has released an extended and more complete version of his work, take 2009's Watchmen and 2017's Justice League for example.
In the first case, this was due to theatrical release restrictions, and in the second to the fact that the film was almost entirely reworked by Joss Whedon, who took over the production after Zack had to leave due to a personal tragedy.
The situation with Rebel Moon is completely different, as the movie hasn't even been released yet, which begs the question why the inferior "regular" cut is needed at all?
The filmmaker's explanation for this at Tudum is rather vague and incoherent, as he only describes the extended version as "a settle-in deep dive" and "a revelation [...] that gives that second kick at the can for big fans."
Fans, however, are not really impressed, as it seems to them that Snyder now believes that every single one of his movies must have an extended cut.
They say that while he is a good director, Snyder's ego may have gotten the best of him and made him act like a prima donna.
Their anger is completely understandable, considering that Rebel Moon will be released on Netflix, bypassing the theatrical runtime restrictions, so there is absolutely no reason to release two versions, one of which is deliberately incomplete.
The first part of the space opera is scheduled for release on December 22, 2023.