Netflix confirmed the official runtime for Zack Snyder's upcoming Rebel Moon film, which also seemingly revealed just how long the director's cut of the movie will be.
Zack Snyder's upcoming sci-fi epic titled Rebel Moon will be split into two parts when it finally hits the Netflix streaming service. Part One already received an official trailer highlighting the movie's sci-fi elements and its massive scope.
Part One, which is officially titled A Child of Fire, will be released on December 22, and Part Two: The Scargiver will follow on April 19, 2024.
Rebel Moon's Official Runtime Confirmed
Tudum, which is an official branch of Netflix, recently confirmed that the final runtime for Part One of Rebel Moon will be 2 hours and 13 minutes long.
This also confirmed that the director's cut of the film will be at, or even longer than, three hours in length since it was already stated by producer Deborah Snyder that those extended cuts of each part would "be 45 minutes to an hour longer" than the standard editions.
Snyder also revealed what fans can expect from the director's cuts, saying that they will not include "just a few deleted scenes," but rather "more character" and "a lot more of everything:"
"The difference [this time] is that we’ve planned for it… it’s not an afterthought. We’re still tweaking, but they’ll probably be 45-minutes to an hour longer, each one. You get more character. You get a lot more of everything. It’s not just a few deleted scenes."
Director Zack Snyder also confirmed that his extended cuts would feature "close to an hour of extra content," further alluding that they will be at least three hours long, and perhaps even longer:
"The director’s cut is close to an hour of extra content, so I think it’s a legitimate extended universe version. You really get to see a lot. It’s just more painted-in all the way. The director’s [cut] is a settle-in deep dive, which I have notoriously done throughout my career."
Snyder then went on to talk about the director's cut for Rebel Moon specifically, saying that it was planned all along and that they "shot scenes just for the director's cut," proving that it was always his intention to offer fans an alternative look at the upcoming movie:
"I don’t know how I got into this director’s cut thing, but what I will say about it is that, for me, the director’s cuts have always been something I had to fight for in the past and nobody wanted it. It was this bastard child that I was always trying to put together because they felt like there was a deeper version. And with Netflix, we shot scenes just for the director’s cut. So in that way, it’s really a revelation because it gives that second kick at the can for big fans, like a real discovery that they would not [otherwise] get. I’m really excited about it!"
It is also important to note that, while the standard version of Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire was officially given a PG-13 rating, audio mixer Andy Koyama stated that there would be "extended R-rated versions," so fans can expect these director's cuts to be a bit more mature.
Why Does Rebel Moon Need a Director's Cut?
Zack Snyder is famous for crafting much more extensive versions of his films through director's cuts.
For example, the theatrical version of Justice League was only two hours long, but when Zack Snyder's Justice League was released, fans were shocked to see that it was over four hours in length - a huge change from what originally debuted in theaters.
The DCEU's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was also given the same treatment when a 30-minute-longer ultimate edition (which fans traditionally praise more than the theatrical cut) was released.
This same occurrence happened once again with Snyder’s Watchmen, which was originally 2 hours and 43 minutes, but then was given an Ultimate Cut that lasted over three and a half hours.
Seeing as how Zack Snyder has always preferred to give his movies a longer, more mature director's cut, it is no surprise that Rebel Moon is in the same boat.
In most cases, fans seem to enjoy his longer director's cuts more than the original versions of the respective films, so Snyder is probably ultimately hoping that Rebel Moon will be the same case.
After all, it was teased that the director's cut will showcase the movie's elements in an entirely different way, so fans can expect to actually watch a different version of the movie rather than just the same film with a few extra scenes.
Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire is set to be released on Netflix on December 22.
