Batman v Superman R-Rated Cut Runtime Revealed

At two-and-a-half hours long, Batman v Superman is already a lengthy film roughly equal to Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Now, BvS director Zack Snyder has revealed that the movie's R-rated home video release is thirty minutes longer, bringing the total runtime up to three hours.

Snyder shared the detail in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter regarding the Blu-ray/DVD version's Restricted rating.

"[The DVD version] is a half-hour longer, and some of that additional material is some of the stuff we took out for the rating," Snyder said. "I was like, 'Cool, I can put it back in for the director's cut.' There was nothing by design. This was the material I just put back in, and then when [the MPAA] looked at it again, they were like, 'Oh, now the movie's rated R.'"

The filmmaker explained that "it's not a hard R," going on to say that there isn't any nudity. The reason why it was boosted from PG-13 to R, then, was because, "There's a little bit of violence. It just tips the scale."

Producer Charles Roven said in an earlier interview that the "intensity" of the violence in the extended cut, called the Ultimate Edition, matches what you'll see in theaters. An R-rating was imposed, then, because the scenes go on longer, thus, in theory at least, dialing up the potency even further.

The Ultimate Edition will also showcase a number of deleted scenes, including one that reveals the character actress Jena Malone plays. A release date for the home video release has not been announced.

BvS opens on March 25, 2016 and is poised for big success at the box office. It stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, and Laurence Fishburne.

You can see some new stills from the action movie here. Additionally, an international trailer was released recently, featuring new footage from the movie. Check it out here.