Even with its PG-13 rating holding the movie back on the blood and gore, M3GAN has been a hit with the critics. The film debuted with a near-perfect score of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, ranking high with its early reviews. In response to horror fan concerns that the rating would make the film too soft, director Gerard Johnstone recently argued that the PG-13 restrictions actually made the film scarier than it would have been otherwise. Producers James Wan and Jason Blum also defended the rating, stating that the idea was to encourage teenagers to see the film.
With that said, there are still some horror fans who would've preferred to see M3GAN in all of its R-rated glory before the cuts trimmed it down to a PG-13 rating. Akela Cooper, who co-wrote the script based on a story co-written with Wan, also falls into this category. In a new interview with the L.A. Times, Cooper said that the script featured the killer doll as much more violent than she is in the finished film. He also says that the original cut was "way gorier" and hopes that the unrated version will be released in the future, perhaps for the home media release. Here's what Cooper said when asked how gory the film had originally been envisioned.
"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 Embraces Its Campy Elements
While M3GAN is very much a horror movie with its creepy moments and high body count, it's also filled with more campy elements that are there to make the viewers laugh. Perhaps the most notable example of the latter would be the viral dance scene featured in the trailer, a sign of the insanity that's to come in the full film. Cooper also spoke about how films like Malignant and M3GAN succeed when embracing their campiness, and while Cooper didn't exactly plan things out that way, the writer loves the response.
"I 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."
M3GAN officially premieres in theaters on Jan. 6, 2023. You can watch the official trailer below.