With “M3gan” slaying at the box office, there are unsurprisingly plans for a sequel in the works. But screenwriter Akela Cooper has also eluded to a must bloodier version of the film. Apparently, “M3gan” was heavily altered from its original form to receive a PG-13 rating.
“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,” Cooper told the Los Angeles Times. “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.”
In the original, cut the dancing killer AI M3gan “did kill a bunch more people, including a couple of characters whom James [Wan] 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.”
While PG-13 does open theater screenings and DVD sales to a wider audience. It is often the kiss of death for horror flicks because so many genre fans despise them for a lack of gore and nudity. Key ingredients in the sleazy slashers many of us grew up with. This all makes the success of “M3gan” even more impressive. Not to mention how hard it is for original IP to gain a foothold in any film market right now, let alone horror. An issue producer James Wan addressed himself.
The genre is notorious for long-term franchises, even when they become nonsensical [looking at you “Halloween”] and countless remakes/reboots/reimaginings. There is a chance this could start to shift studios attitudes toward original IP.
“An exec who read one of my specs and really liked it said, ‘It’s gory and no one’s doing gore right now. We have to wait for a horror movie that has gore to come out and be a hit, and then the market will shift.’ I was sitting there, like, ‘OK … we could lead that charge,’” Cooper said. “Now I’m [hearing], ‘There’s gore, and it’s not a problem.’ I’m happy that I could have a hand in bringing back fun horror that doesn’t take itself so seriously. I’m reading about more horror movies that are wild, out-there ideas coming out or being bought. And some of them are original, which is good! I’m happy that I could steer that ship so that studio execs can be like, ‘Oh! There might actually be money in them thar hills.”
Check out the trailer for “M3gan” below:
