James Gunn staying coy about The Suicide Squad ending up with an R-rating

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

2016's SUICIDE SQUAD was a PG-13 rated comic book movie that despetely needed some R-rated sensibilities. I'm not saying it would've fixed all of the film's problems, but it certainly felt neutered by its PG-13 rating. Now that we eagerly await James Gunn's THE SUICIDE SQUAD in 2021, some fans are wondering what rating the project will land and Gunn is offering a little bit of a insight.

While he doesn't given a definitive answer, Gunn was giving an "Instagram" Q/A with fans and one happened to ask him if THE SUICIDE SQUAD would be rated R. Gunn gave the following answer featured in the image below:

The response doesn't reveal a sure fire answer either way but at least he didn't go straight with a PG-13 rating response Gunn has hinted that he knows exactly what the film will be rated but he can't reveal that just yet. He addressed the matter on Twitter as recent as early April with a tweet exchange with a fan:

Considering the antics many are expecting the titular group to get into, an R-rating could be likely. It would give Gunn the opportunity to get a bit more inventive with the language and violence, and it would certainly be a change from the 2016 film. R-rated comic book films have seen success with DEADPOOL, LOGAN & DEADPOOL 2 pulling in strong numbers but Warner Bros. could have some hesitation due to the box office performance of BIRDS OF PREY. The Harley Quinn film, featured Margot Robbie's character from SUICIDE SQUAD, went with an R-rating & some believe it cut out of the film's potential audience, which resulted in disappointing box office. I would argue that the audience for THE SUICIDE SQUAD is different than that of BIRDS OF PREY so I don't think Warner Bros. should have any pause about taking it there with the 2021 film.

THE SUICIDE SQUAD brings back Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), and Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman.) while new faces include Idris Elba, John Cena & Nathan Fillion. They really have kept much of the sequel under wraps but we do know that they wrapped principal photography in February and Gunn says, as of now, the film is still on track to make its August 6, 2021 release date despite COVID-19. The behind the scenes team will be working remotely on post-production.

Do YOU think THE SUICIDE SQUAD should be rated R or will it diminish its box office potential?