Do you like movies? Do you like movies so much that you prefer for them to never end? If your answer is yes, then have we got good news for you. When Zack Snyder adds the footage that will turn Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice from a PG-13 popcorn movie into an R-rated violence opera (ok, it’s not really that bad), it's going to turn an already long film into an absolute epic – specifically by making it a full half-hour longer.
According to Zack Snyder, the DVD cut of the film will be 30 minutes longer than the version that will be released in theaters in just over a week. He also spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about exactly what will turn Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice into an R-rated film. If you were hoping for an on-screen Wonder Woman costume change in real time (or one of Batman for that matter), or looking forward to hearing Superman drop an F-bomb, you’ll be sadly disappointed. Said the filmmaker,
[The DVD version] is a half-hour longer, and some of that additional material is some of the stuff we took out for the rating. I was like, ‘Cool, I can put it back in for the director's cut.’ There was nothing by design. This was the material I just put back in, and then when [the MPAA] looked at it again, they were like, ‘Oh, now the movie's rated R.’ And, by the way, it's not a hard R. There's no nudity. There's a little bit of violence. It just tips the scale.
For a movie that already clocks in at 151 minutes for its theatrical release, adding an additional 30 minutes to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will make the film a full three hours long. That qualifies as an epic by any definition of the word. While even the shortest modern superhero movies have been barely less than two hours, this is a lot of additional footage.
While there’s apparently no nudity that will be added to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, that’s because what nudity there seemingly remained in the PG-13 cut. Censors in India reportedly have an issue with a "fleeting nude figure" that appears in the film. Based on Zack Snyder’s description of the difference between the two cuts, it sounds like the existing version may push the limits of the PG-13 rating, while the Blu-ray version will push it just over the line. We would guess that this means most of what we’ll see are extended versions of the existing fight scenes that just increase the film’s total level of violence. MPAA ratings are far from exact science, so often the difference between the two ratings when it comes to acts of brutality is simply a question of quantity.
Are you already looking forward to the three hour long Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice or are you expecting to be happy with the theatrical cut?
