MPAA

THE EXPENDABLES 2 May Be PG-13 Because of Chuck Norris [UPDATE: Sylvester Stallone Confirms the Rating]

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 18th, 2012 at 8:45 am

Chuck Norris enjoyed renewed popularity due to Conan O’Brien‘s Walker Texas Ranger lever and the Internet’s constant meme factory that came up with sayings to make the Sidekicks star sound cooler than he actually is.  Fans, both real and ironic, were excited to hear he was joining The Expendables 2, but his participation may have cut the movie from an R-rating to PG-13.

Hit the jump for what Norris had to say about getting the rating lowered.  Whether it’s R-rated or PG-13, The Expendables 2 opens August 17th.  The film also stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Yu Nan, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Jean Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[Update: Stallone confirmed the rating will be PG-13.  His explanation is now after the jump.

The MPAA Pulls THE HANGOVER: PART II Trailer from Theaters

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: April 6th, 2011 at 9:13 am

The MPAA once again proved their incompetence and ineptitude by pulling a trailer they’d previously approved for The Hangover: Part II.  JoBlo reports that “Warner Bros. sent an urgent notice to all theater owners notifying them that all copies of the trailer “need to be destroyed” and all current placements, including and especially Source Code, need to be removed immediately.”  Warner Bros. plans to release a “new” all audiences trailer attached to Scream 4.  That’s right: the studio is releasing an all-audiences trailer attached to an R-rated movie.

Since the MPAA can’t remove or destroy the trailer from the Internet, hit the jump to watch it and discuss what parts you think were objectionable to horrified parents who thought watching Jake Gyllenhaal repeatedly blown to bits was wholesome family entertainment.  The Hangover: Part II opens May 26^th.

MPAA Overturns NC-17 Ruling on BLUE VALENTINE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 8th, 2010 at 1:56 pm

The MPAA has overturned its original decision to give Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine an NC-17. The Weinstein Company recently mounted a legal campaign to get Blue Valentine an R-rating and knock The King’s Speech down from an R-rating to PG-13.  This is wonderful news for Blue Valentine and for sanity. I saw the film earlier this week and while it’s raw and emotional, there’s nothing in it that merits an NC-17.  According to Deadline, the MPAA’s decision to overturn the rating was reportedly unanimous.

Blue Valentine, which stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams as a married couple in a deteriorating relationship, should now open on December 31st without any problems from nervous exhibitors.  Now the trick is getting audiences to ring in the new year by watching the love between two people crumble and fall apart.

The Weinstein Company Assembles Legal Team to Challenge MPAA Ratings for THE KING’S SPEECH and BLUE VALENTINE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: November 18th, 2010 at 8:41 am

The Weinstein Company has a couple of serious awards contenders with The King Speech’s and Blue Valentine.  While critical acclaim for these films has already come out of the festival circuit, the Weinsteins are trying to get these films in front of as many people as possible.  Standing in the way is the MPAA, which has slapped The King’s Speech with an R-rating for langugage and Blue Valentine with an NC-17 for apparently being too emotionally devastating.

The Weinstein Company has assembled a legal team to fight the ratings, since the “R” would lower The King’s Speech‘s potential box office and the “NC-17″ would outright kill Blue Valentine.  Hit the jump for more.

HOW DO YOU KNOW Likely to Be Re-cut to Avoid R-Rating for Language

by Ben Brown    Posted: November 12th, 2010 at 12:34 pm

Pop quiz: what do Denzel Washington’s Antwone Fisher, Matt Ruskin and Chris Rolle’s documentary The Hip-Hop Project and James L. Brooks’ upcoming rom-com How Do You Know all have in common? Any guesses? Anyone?  Okay, I’ll tell you: all three films, in their finished form, include over one use of the word “fuck” during the course of their running time. Yet oddly enough, despite the MPAA’s staunch ‘one ‘fuck’ per PG-13 film’ rule, two of these films–Antwone Fisher (three “fucks”) and The Hip Hop Project (seventeen)–somehow managed to avoid being slapped with an R-rating, and instead were deemed suitably appropriate for a PG-13.

How Do You Know, on the other hand, hasn’t been quite as lucky. Earlier this week Sony found their film slapped with an R-rating, on account of the film’s usage of the word ‘fuck’ three times. After losing an appeal to overturn the rating, Variety is now reporting that Sony will take the film back to the editing room in the hopes of securing a more audience-accessible rating for its December release. Hit the jump for some of my thoughts.

The Weinstein Company to Appeal NC-17 Rating for BLUE VALENTINE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: October 14th, 2010 at 8:03 am

Last Week, Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine was hit was an unexpected NC-17 rating for a scene that was emotionally jarring but not graphically offensive.  Since most theaters won’t run NC-17 films, The Weinstein Company was left with the choice to either appeal the rating or have Cianfrance make cuts and re-submit the movie.  The Weinstein Company have now issued a statement saying they will appeal the rating.  Hit the jump to read the official statement from Harvey Weinstein regarding the matter.  Blue Valentine stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams and is set to open on December 31st.

BLUE VALENTINE, Starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, Gets Hit with NC-17 Rating

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: October 8th, 2010 at 9:50 am

The MPAA has created a stir this morning by giving the drama Blue Valentine an NC-17 rating.  The “NC-17″ is a kiss-of-death for a film and most theaters won’t exhibit a film that has NC-17 (and as demonstrated this week by Hatchet 2, you can’t get away with no rating either).  Blue Valentine stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams and is about the deterioration of a marriage.  So as to avoid spoilers, hit the jump to find out what was so offensive to the MPAA as to merit the dreaded NC-17.

HATCHET 2 Pulled From AMC Theaters

by Jason Barr    Posted: October 5th, 2010 at 11:20 am

Like the on-screen lives of so many involved with the film, the already limited theatrical run for Adam Green’s horror flick Hatchet II has ended prematurely.  Having failed to receive an “R” rating from the ultra-classified MPAA, Green and Hatchet‘s distributor Dark Sky Films miraculously received screenings for the unrated cut in over 60 AMC theaters in both the US and Canada.  As of yesterday, though, the film had been pulled from all AMC theaters without cause or explanation.

While you may or may not have been interested in checking out Hatchet II in theaters, the film’s inability to achieve an “R” rating as well as its ultimate removal from theaters is a great reminder of just how much power the MPAA wields over the motion picture industry.  To check out some quotes from Green (who wrote/directed the film), hit the jump.

Terrence Malick’s THE TREE OF LIFE is Screened for the MPAA; Gets a PG-13 Rating

by Jason Barr    Posted: July 6th, 2010 at 8:25 pm

Terrence Malick’s (The Thin Red Line) upcoming film The Tree of Life has just received its rating from the MPAA. Via Rope of Silicon, the film will be PG-13 for “some thematic material.” While knowing the film’s rating is nice (if you’re into that sort of thing), the real pull here is that someone has actually seen the long delayed film. In fact, when you consider that no official images and/or trailers have been released for it to date, the rating itself takes on a whole new life of its own as hope that it may actually get released around the time of its latest purported release date, November 2010.

In case you need a refresher for the film, hit the jump to read what we know about it thus far and to check out an official synopsis.

THE WOLFMAN Devours an R-Rating

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 8th, 2009 at 7:45 pm

Plagued by production problems from beginning to end, Joe Johnston’s adaptation of The Wolfman is coming to a theater near you on February 12, 2010 whether you like it or not.  However, the chances of you liking it went up a little today as Universal happily announced that an R-rated cut of the film has won out over a tamer PG-13 version.  Of course, an R-rating is no stamp of quality, but the difference in ratings means that instead of an action movie which a PG-13 rating implies, The Wolfman is going to get to be a longer, bloodier, and gorier horror film.  Now let’s just hope it’s a good one.

Hit the jump for a synopsis on the film.  The Wolfman stars Benecio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving.

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