MOVIE NEWS – The cut of M3GAN coming to cinemas is rated PG-13…

M3GAN has been a critical success despite the PG-13 rating. The film debuted with a near-perfect score of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. Initial reviews gave it a high rating. In response to horror fans’ concerns that the rating would make the film too “soft”, director Gerard Johnstone recently argued that the PG-13 restriction actually made the movie scarier than it would have been otherwise.

The producers, James Wan and Jason Blum, also defended the rating, saying it was intended to encourage teenagers to see the film.

That said, horror fans still would have preferred to see M3GAN in all its R-rated glory before it was cut to a PG-13 rating. Akela Cooper, who co-wrote the screenplay based on the story co-written with Wan, also falls into this category. In a new interview with the L.A. Times, Cooper said that the killer doll in the script was much more violent. He also said the original cut was “much more violent” and hopes to release an unrated version in the future. Here’s what Cooper had to say when asked about how gory the film was initially envisioned to be.

“No shade to Universal, love them, and I understand that once the trailer went viral, teenagers got involved and you want them to be able to see it. There should be an unrated version at some point. … I heard it is on the books. But yes, it was way gorier. Her body count in the script was higher than in the movie. It wasn’t a Gabriel [in Malignant]-scale massacre, but she did kill a bunch more people, including a couple of characters whom James was like, ‘I like what you did with those people, but I want them to live.’ I was merciless, but again, that is me. My humor is extremely dark.”

M3GAN may be horror, but it is not without humour

While M3GAN is very much a horror film with its creepy moments and high body count, it is also full of more comedic elements. The filmmakers have no secret aim to make the audience laugh. Perhaps the most striking example of the latter is the dance sequence in the trailer, which foreshadows the madness to be expected throughout the film. Cooper has also talked about how movies like Malignant and M3GAN are successful when they take on a life of their own, and although Cooper didn’t exactly plan things that way, the writer is pleased with the reaction.

“II love the response to Malignant, and I’m loving the response to M3GAN, but I have to be honest.”

It’s not like I sit down and say, ‘I’m going to write the craziest s— and it’s going to be so campy!’ I start with character and story and making them real.”

The film will officially be released in US theaters on January 6, 2023.

Source: L.A. Times