Summary

• Animation would have made Rebel Moon more visually appealing compared to the ugly live-action aesthetic.
• The R-rated director’s cuts promise more sex, violence, and darkness for Rebel Moon.
• Animation could be the way forward for the Rebel Moon franchise, making more financial sense for Netflix.

If the art style featured on the director’s cut poster had been used to make Rebel Moon an animated film, it would’ve made it much more visually appealing than the ugly, saturated, CG-filled live-action aesthetic. While the director’s cuts for movies like Watchmen and Justice League were announced long after the original film was released, Rebel Moon was always made with director’s cuts in mind. Netflix wanted a family-friendly PG-13 space adventure and Snyder wanted a grisly, violent, R-rated blood-fest, so they compromised by making both.

Unfortunately, since the PG-13 versions of Rebel Moon weren’t very well-received, there isn’t much hype for the R-rated versions. The R-rated director’s cuts – dubbed Chalice of Blood and Curse of Forgiveness – are set to arrive on Netflix on August 2. The newly titled Rebel Moon director’s cuts are promising more sex, violence, and darkness. The release of the director’s cuts has been teased with a brand-new poster, and the poster teases a much better Rebel Moon film that Snyder should’ve made instead.

Rebel Moon Could’ve Been A Great Animated Movie Using The Art Style Of The Director’s Cut Poster

Animation is more flattering than live-action

The art style used on the poster for the Rebel Moon director’s cut is gorgeous: it has vibrant colors, rich texture, and an expressionistic palette. Rebel Moon might’ve been a better movie – or, at least, a better-looking movie – if it had been animated in this style instead of being shot in live-action. With their saturated colors, washed-out compositions, and made-for-TV visual effects, the live-action Rebel Moon movies are really ugly to look at. Animation wouldn’t make the story any less derivative or the characters any more compelling, but it would be much easier on the eyes.

Snyder is no stranger to animation. He wrote and executive-produced the Watchmen animated short Tales of the Black Freighter for the home media release, and he’s created an animated series based on Norse mythology, titled Twilight of the Gods, that he’s directing for Netflix. Even Snyder’s live-action work, with lots of greenscreen shots and CG effects, plays with the components of animation. Clearly, Snyder has a penchant for animation, and it arguably would’ve made Rebel Moon a much better movie if he’d leaned into that.

Animation Could Be The Way Forward For The Rebel Moon Franchise

It would be better-looking and it makes more financial sense for Netflix

Animation could be the perfect next step for the Rebel Moon franchise. It would be a lot better-looking than the horrible live-action films and it would make more financial sense for Netflix, since 2D animation is a lot cheaper to produce than CG-heavy live-action. Rather than giving up on Rebel Moon completely, Netflix could explore the possibility of telling more stories in this universe through the medium of animation.