The big surprise in this week's MPAA ratings bulletin is the inclusion of Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. Originally intended to hit theaters this year, the film was pushed to an undetermined 2013 release date as effects work on the sci-fi feature was taking longer than expected. Now it would appear the film is at least in some state of a completed form, which makes me wonder if we'll finally see a trailer, or an image, a release date or anything at all...
In addition to that we have ratings for this weekend's new comedy Fun Size, Oscar contender Silver Linings Playbook, the zombie love story Warm Bodies and more.
You can click on any of the titles mentioned above for more information, otherwise, here are the latest MPAA ratings from Bulletin #2246.
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A PG-13 for Zombie Violence? What the hell does that mean?
If I had to speculate, I'd guess Fun Size had a difficult time getting a PG-13. That's the only explanation for the official MPAA rating taking so long. Nickelodeon may have almost gotten stuck releasing an R-rated comedy and panicked. I guess if they couldn't get the PG-13, they would have had to delay it.
I could have sworn Silver Linings Playbook was already rated. Perhaps not. None of the other ratings surprise me, except Killer Joe. Surrendering the NC-17 seems pointless at this stage. Sure, you can sell it at Wal-Mart if it's Unrated, but you didn't see Shame cop out like that.
I think it's the other way. Probably going for the PG rating as it is Nickelodeon and they don't make PG-13 movies. Probably just gave up and went with the PG-13 when they couldn't get the PG.
I don't think so. There's no way it was ever going to get a PG, based on the trailer. It isn't Nickelodeon's first PG-13, either. They put out some PG-13 British flick a few years ago, but I can't remember what it was called. Wasn't Snow Day PG-13, too?
Yes. With the two references (I think) to sex, and some of the scenes of partying, there was NO WAY they would pull a PG on this.
It is their first PG-13 rated movie. I looked it up. And it was intended to be a PG-13 all along. Nickelodeon is trying to change their brand, according to reports, but it still seems odd they got the PG-13 a few days before release. The writer said his original script was R rated. I'm still surprised that Nickelodeon needed to change the brand. Seems PG was working for them. (Rango, The Last Airbender)
It isn't the first. I was wrong about Snow Day, which I haven't seen in a decade, but Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging is PG-13.
I wish Viacom had just decided to release the movie under the MTV banner and filmed the R-rated script.
Oops, spoke too soon. Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging was PG-13, and this is not their first. But was it released theatrically here in the States? Would this be their first theatrically (domestic) released PG-13 film? Looks like I've been wrong quite a bit on this thread. Well, I'll continue going... Dawn of the Planet of the Apes will feature talking lemurs. The Evil Dead remake is actually a remake of The Pirate Movie but they just didn't think people would go see it, and Joss Whedon is just the name Daniel Tosh takes when he directs.
I too was intrigued by the "Fun Size" rating. Didn't think it was previously an "R" though since I don't think Nickelodeon would risk making anything that resembled "R" - given how much you can get away with in PG-13 these days.
Brad - do you plan on checking this one out?
I certainly don't think it was deliberately made for an R, but I think it's very possible that they accidentally crossed into R territory with a line or two and were told to rein it back in. Chelsea Handler in particular is known for edgy (and unfunny, but that's neither here nor there) material, and her last film, This Means War, was originally rated R for some of her dialogue.
Just out of interest can anyone give me an explanation as to why Killer Joe would want to surrender it's rating? If it didn't surrender the NC-17 rating does that mean that it could not release an unrated DVD/Blu-ray like other movies such as American Reunion etc have? Did all these comedies that have unrated DVDs surrender their ratings before DVD release too?
That's a good question, Maja. Most of the time, the "unrated" DVDs you see for movies like The Hangover were never actually submitted to the MPAA or intended to be released theatrically. "Unrated" DVDs usually include a bunch of random deleted scenes that have been inserted back into the movie and aren't any more explicit than what was already there. Sometimes, such as with Live Free or Die Hard or Will Ferrell's PG-13 comedies, you'll see material that would have bumped the rating up a notch, but for the most part, it's aimless filler. In the instance of Killer Joe, they surrendered the rating in order to be able to sell the film at Wal-Mart, where many uneducated people will undoubtedly purchase it because that nice McConaughey boy from the Kate Hudson movies is in it.
Thanks for that explanation, so does that mean that they can release the exact same cut that was previously rated as NC-17 as unrated now that they have surrendered the rating or do they need to add one or two extra filler scenes like other 'unrated' movies?
Because they surrendered the rating, the theatrical cut is now legally unrated and will hopefully be the version released on DVD.
Thanks for clarifying, much appreciated.
Glad I could help!
And they're some of the only people who will BUY IT on DVD, not because it's bad, but because it's conterversial, and people are more leary to watch it. Uneducated people will probably have never heard of the movie, and won't know how controverial it is. Plus, it's right up their alley
My guess would be so they could release the DVD/Blu-ray and slap on it "Unrated".
I find it odd that 'Fun Size' is PG-13. And, I'm REALLY suprised it took THIS LONG to get it rated. The trailer looked like a hard PG, maybe light PG-13 (two references, I THINK, to sex), but I'm intregued to see how close it came to an R rating. Would Nickelodeon greenlight a R rated comedy with one it's bigger stars? Would Nickeloden even greenlight an R rated comedy AT ALL??
Glad to see 'Gravity' finally get rated, and I really hope to see more of the movie as the weeks and months progress. I'm intregued to see what Cuaron can cook up with this, and if it's as groundbreaking as Guillermo Del Toro has said that it will be.
Did 'Killer Joe' HAVE to drop it's NC-17 rating? The movie has already been seen by a lot of people, and has become one of the most controversial movies of all time. If the film hadn't been released yet, I could see dropping the NC-17 rating, not when you decide to release it on DVD and see that the NC-17 rating would hurt sales.. It's POINTLESS! People already KNOW it's conteroversial!
Killer Joe is in no way one of the most controversial movies of all-time. It's not even one of the most controversial movies of the year. Sure, it's rated NC-17, but it is in no way infamous, nor do I recall any uproar over its release in mainstream theaters. I think they should have kept the NC-17, but I'm sure this was done so the film can be sold at Wal-Mart.
I'm suprised for Mpaa rating for Silver Linings Playbook.
I'm only surprised that it wasn't already rated, and that the R isn't harder. I expected something involving brief violence and/or disturbing material. I mean, Perhaps it's a much lighter film than I expected.
To filmgoermatt:
The other Nickelodeon movie with a PG-13 rating was called "Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging." And, also, Snow Day was just PG.
Thank you. I looked this up before I saw your comment, but you're correct. I was blanking on the title of that film, and I'm not sure why I thought Snow Day was PG-13. Chevy Chase is in it, so that may have had something to do with it.
To note while fun size is pg-13 they were always going for that their is still a scene where albert does shots but they did take out chelsea handler more crude parts and johnny knoxvilles coke scene