While by now everyone should be well aware how arbitrary the MPAA rating system is, it seems like ratings are still a big deal to some people. Frankly since I’m well over 17 it doesn’t matter what a movie is rated, and when I was under 17 it wasn’t exactly hard to see R rated movies despite being underage. Still, for people like movie executives, ratings are a big deal — the lower the rating, the larger the potential audience. For instance, I’d imagine The Avengers wouldn’t have rocked a $200+ million opening weekend if it had been rated R.
Earlier in the year, director Ridley Scott suggested that studio pressure was forcing his hand to make Prometheus a PG-13 rated movie. Scott didn’t seem thrilled with the idea, but he was understanding — he pointed out that the film industry is a business, and his job was to deliver a film that would be as profitable as possible since the studio was investing a big budget into the production. I had this discussion in mind when I saw the Prometheus trailer before The Avengers, because based on the trailer I saw no way it would pull off a PG-13 rating.
Turns out it hasn’t — Collider is reporting that according to printed advance sale tickets Prometheus is rated R for “sci-fi violence including some intense images, and brief language,” something that 20th Century Fox has confirmed.
In related news, Deadline is reporting that the next movie from The French Connection and The Exorcist director William Friedkin, the black comedy Killer Joe, will be released with a NC-17 rating. I think it’s fantastic that studios are no longer afraid of releasing NC-17 movies, since it used to be the kiss of death in theaters (in fact, most theater chains wouldn’t even book NC-17 ratings and some still won’t). After all, Shame had a respectable box office and became a critical favorite last year despite the NC-17 rating. Killer Joe, which stars Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, and Juno Temple, is about a man putting a hit out on his mother in order to collect on her life insurance to pay off a debt. Obviously not PG material.
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