Akela Cooper has made quite a name for herself in the past couple years, first writing the screenplay for Malignant and more recently penning this year’s new box office hit M3GAN.
With a sequel to M3GAN already in early development, Cooper reveals to Los Angeles Times that the original incarnation of the film was a bit different. For starters, it was “way gorier.”
“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 explains to the outlet.
She continues, “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 [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.”
Based on Cooper’s comments it sounds like the cut of M3GAN that Universal was set to release at the time the first trailer dropped was likely rated “R”, but the positive response from younger audiences resulted in some changes being made to cut it down to PG-13. And the decision has proven to be a smart one on the financial front, as young audiences turned out in droves to see M3GAN dance across the screen in all her Tiktok-inspired glory.
As for the fans who want to see some of those gory bits put back into the movie, it sounds like we may be getting that Unrated cut of M3GAN soon. Stay tuned for more as we learn it.
