Netflix has finally announced its release plan for the director’s cuts of Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon – and it’s a rare promising sign for Snyder’s troubled sci-fi franchise. The streamer released Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire on December 22, 2023, and followed it up with Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver on April 19, 2024. The plan was for the buzz around Part One to drum up excitement for Part Two in the four-month interim. But that backfired, because Part One was universally panned by critics and audiences alike, so there was very little excitement for Part Two.

Since before the first Rebel Moon film was released, Snyder has teased that there were R-rated director’s cuts on the way. He wanted Rebel Moon to be a hard-R actioner, but Netflix wanted to expand the potential audience with a family-friendly PG-13 rating. Their compromise was to release two versions of each Rebel Moon film: one rated PG-13 with very little sex and graphic violence, and one rated R with all that stuff in spades. After months of teases, Netflix has finally announced when it’ll be releasing the R-rated Rebel Moon director’s cuts – and it’s a surprisingly good sign.

Rebel Moon Part 1 & 2’s Director’s Cut Will Come Out The Same Day

They’ll both arrive on Netflix on August 2

Netflix has announced that it’ll release both Rebel Moon director’s cuts on August 2. This all-at-once release strategy is more in line with the model that Netflix pioneered for its original TV shows: giving audiences everything on the same day and letting them binge-watch it in their own time. To differentiate them from the PG-13 versions, the R-rated cuts have been given new titles. Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire has been renamed Rebel Moon – Chapter One: Chalice of Blood and Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver has been renamed Rebel Moon – Chapter Two: Curse of Forgiveness.

Why It’s Best For Rebel Moon To Release Both Snyder Cuts On The Same Day

Netflix already tried and failed to build anticipation around Rebel Moon

Releasing both of the R-rated Rebel Moon cuts on the same day is the best release strategy for Netflix. They already tried leaving a few months between each one with the initial PG-13 releases, and it didn’t go too well. Once Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire had been eviscerated by critics and dismissed by audiences, there was no anticipation whatsoever for the story’s supposedly epic conclusion in Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver. If viewers had been able to go straight from Part One to Part Two, it might’ve been a different story.

The first part spends its entire runtime getting the team together, going from one shady place to the next and picking up interchangeable gunslingers along the way. It’s a tedious, long-winded version of what could’ve been a montage in a more tightly edited, single-movie version of Rebel Moon. The second part is a slight improvement in that it delivers on the high-octane action promised by Snyder’s “Seven Samurai in space” premise. But it was still marred by one-dimensional characters and a complete lack of emotional engagement. Each movie’s flaws wouldn’t have been as obvious if they could’ve been viewed together.

There’s already been plenty of backlash to just the notion of Snyder releasing longer, R-rated versions of the Rebel Moon films. This is very different from the Justice League situation, where Snyder returned to a project he’d had to depart to complete his incomplete vision. The promise of Rebel Moon’s director’s cuts always seemed like it was more of a marketing strategy by Netflix to get more minutes watched. Since the original versions weren’t well-received anyway, it’s best for Netflix and Snyder to just release the director’s cuts and get them out there already. There’s no use building suspense.

How Different Will Rebel Moon’s Zack Snyder Cuts Be?

For starters, the director’s cuts are much longer

Snyder has teased that the R-rated Rebel Moon director’s cuts are completely different movies than the PG-13 versions. They won’t just be the same movies with some CG blood splashes added into the action scenes. For starters, the director’s cuts will be a lot longer. Whereas the original PG-13 versions of the Rebel Moon films collectively run for just over four hours, the R-rated versions clock in at over six hours. Part One is expanded from 134 minutes to 201 minutes and Part Two is expanded from 122 minutes to 170 minutes.

The longer runtime suggests that Snyder won’t just be extending scenes that appeared in the original films; he might actually be adding in scenes that were too racy for the PG-13 versions. One of the biggest complaints about the PG-13 Rebel Moon cuts was that the characters lacked depth. Audiences couldn’t connect with them emotionally, so they didn’t really care when they got killed. If the R-rated Rebel Moon movies include a few extra scenes that round out those characters, then they could actually improve the viewing experience.