Warner Bros.’ upcoming Doctor Sleep has been rated R, according to Mike Flanagan, who directed the adaptation of Stephen King’s follow-up to The Shining.
“Doctor Sleep has officially been rated R by the MPAA for ‘disturbing and violent content, some bloody images, language, nudity, and drug use.’ Sounds about right…” Flanagan wrote late Tuesday on Twitter.
The news is not necessarily shocking; Flanagan previously said he anticipated the film getting an R, but the exact reasons why were unclear.
Rating descriptors did not exist when The Shining was released in 1980, but those for Doctor Sleep all seem to fall in line for the horror classic, save for perhaps the drug use.
So far, only one trailer has been released for the Ewan McGregor starrer, but the preview did have the approval of the actor who played McGregor’s character, Danny Torrance, in Stanley Kubrick’s classic.
“It looked really good,” Danny Lloyd told The Hollywood Reporter in June. “I was curious since there is a fine line they have to walk with Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick. It looks like they found a way to pay tribute to both.”
King, who is on record saying he did not like Kubrick’s version of The Shining, is on board for Flanagan’s film.
“This movie is going to blow your mind. If you have any left after It: Chapter 2, that is,” King said when the trailer dropped.
Doctor Sleep is due in theaters Nov. 8.
