Update (11/26/21) – A Warner Bros. spokesperson has confirmed that the broadcast cable version of Birds of Prey was “mistakenly added to the service,” and that “the unedited original version will be available on HBO Max instead.”
The original story follows.
The HBO Max version of Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) has apparently been censored from the original version that was found on the streamer and in theaters.
As reported by ComicBook.com, HBO Max subscribers that start the DC film are greeted with a message saying, “This film has been modified as follows from its original version: it has been edited for content.”
Birds of Prey is rated R and features language and violence throughout the film. As ComicBook.com notes, “one scene featuring Rosie Perez’s Detective Montoya sees a phrase on her shirt being clearly edited, confirming the censoring of the outing.” The movie that stars both Margot Robbie and Ewan McGregor now boasts a TV-14 rating.
ComicBook.com also writes that this wasn’t the first time a streamer has offered a “tamer version of the film,” as Netflix had the TV edit of Back to the Future II for a while before it was corrected.
“The blame is on Universal who somehow furnished Netflix an edited version of the movie,” writer Bob Gale told The Hollywood Reporter at the time. “I learned about it some 10 days ago from an eagle-eyed fan, and had the studio rectify the error. The version now running is the uncensored, unedited, original version.”
Whether this was a mistake or otherwise remains to be seen, but we will update this story if the original version is restored.
Birds of Prey being brought down to TV-14 is somewhat of a big deal as it was the first DCEU title to be rated R beside the “Ultimate Edition” of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Following Birds of Prey, Zack Snyder’s Justice League and The Suicide Squad both also earned an R rating.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.