With the success of "Deadpool," it was expected that many studios will move forward with an R-rated comic book film. However, speaking to Collider, "Suicide Squad" producer Charles Roven revealed that their film will retain a PG-13 rating and that this will be the same for their other upcoming films such as "Justice League" parts one and two.
This does not count, however, for the home release version of "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," which Roven is also producing. The film was initially given an R-rating by the MPAA and was trimmed down to hit a PG-13 rating. The R-rated home release is more or less considered as a director's cut put out by director Zack Snyder and is a practice he has done with past films such as "Sucker Punch," "Watchmen" and "300."
According to Roven, Marvel and 20th Century Fox made the logical choice in making "Deadpool" PG-13 given the nature of the character and the comic books. For many DC properties, however, such as "Justice League" and "Suicide Squad," the material from the comics can be adapted without having to take an R-rated tone.
"At the moment, my understanding is we are still releasing 'Suicide Squad' as a PG-13," Roven explained during the interview. "I'm not seeing any real reason to change. We've made some pretty edgy films that are rated PG-13. You never want to say 'never' because we all evolve, but right now I think we're staying that course."
Many "edgy" films have indeed been given a PG-13 rating such as "The Dark Knight," "World War Z" and "Insidious." All of these films have an intense amount of violence, gore and other dark themes but were given a PG-13 rating, indicating that the filmmakers can get away with a lot of things commonly perceived as "R-rated only."
"Suicide Squad" will launch in theaters this Aug. 5.
