Why Fear the End of the R-Rated Superhero Movie? 640
brumgrunt writes "Last year, Marvel said that R-rated comic book superhero movies weren't in its future plans. Now, in the light of Watchmen's box office performance, Warner Bros is going the same way, meaning high-profile comic book superhero films will be restricted to the PG-13 rating at most. But is this a bad thing, and should we fear the end of the R-rated superhero movie?"
Re:The thing that has made great superhero movies. (Score:5, Informative)
Batman Begins: PG-13
The Dark Knight: PG-13
Re:The thing that has made great superhero movies. (Score:2, Informative)
Um, the Dark Knight was PG-13. That was part of the point of this article, had you read it ("look at the successful PG-13 comic movies!").
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/ [imdb.com]
Also part of the point was that damn, that was seriously rated PG-13 and not R?
Watchmen still have made money (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, it won't be huge profit, but come on, for such violent and anti-mainstream experiment they got nice cash back. It is 165m (costed 120m), and it is only third week.
I love movie, I only would like to be it more itself not just a copy of living very good comic book. However, it would require to move sideways from original material.
Anyway, I think team who made it have proven their point. Kudos to them, all actors especially.
Re:How about rated PG? (Score:5, Informative)
You know, back in the day, kids listened to radio programs. Not just music. TV Programs without the "vision" part. Dramas, comedies all that. Without seizure inducing bright flashy pictures every three seconds. All those were pretty much nothing but "talking" with some sound effects tossed in.
Kids have more potential then people want to believe. They let that damned myth of innocence morph into a need for ignorance because once those little gears do start turning it is hard to make them stop (well, easy once you get the kid diagnosed with the deficit disorder du jour and load them up with meds).
Re:The thing that has made great superhero movies. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The thing that has made great superhero movies. (Score:4, Informative)
You get roughly eleven seconds of Dr Manhattan manhood in the entire thing. The problem you have is that you instantly go "It's a dick! FIXATE FIXATE FIXATE..." Exactly the same as my girlfriend did.
The same thing appears in the comic book. That's why it's there. It shows his lack of regard for human ideals; The human body is not to be ashamed of, or revulsed, surprised, or shocked by. I have one. You have one. Your dad has one. Get over it.
The plot was lost because the story takes a HELL of a lot longer than 2.75 hours to read. It's the way comics work. You get time to stop, consider the implications, imagine the scene, then move on. You didn't get that in the movie. It was still a reasonable good movie, though, and true to the comic.
If the only thing you brought back from that movie was "OMG LULZ I SOR A PEENAR!!1122" then you need to grow up a little.
Yeah yeah, off-topic. It needed to be said.
Re:PG-13 is the new R. (Score:3, Informative)
The Dark Knight had 104 instances of violence and was rated PG-13. But, there was no profanity and no sex. Eyes Wide Shut (the uncut version), had no violence whatsoever, but there were 13 instances of sex and some profanity. It was rated NC-17.
The really funny part about this is that the MPAA still insists that the ratings group treats sex and violence the same.
Re:I can live with it (Score:3, Informative)
we don't even start to become sexual beings until the early teen years
That is complete bullshit. Educate yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_sexuality [wikipedia.org]
Re:WTF is the problem with the penis? (Score:2, Informative)
What planet did you grow up on?
Actually, the situation is the reverse from you mistakenly assume. Prior to 60's and 70's the news, and media in general *was* sanitized to remove gore, etc... etc... That was the whole point of the Hays Code and the fuss over comics in the 50's that lead to the Comics Code Authority.
Only if you and your hypothetical 9 year old lived in an location where street violence was common, no they weren't 'plenty exposed' to real violence. It was strictly controlled in the media, and not all that common in real life.
It's only 'tired and unfounded' if you are completely unaware of what actually happened in the past.
Re:I can live with it (Score:5, Informative)
It's a US thing. Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] has an explanation.
Brief summary:
* G - General admission. Anyone can get in. Family fare.
* PG - Parental guidance suggested. Anyone can get in, but may not be suitable for younger children.
* PG-13. Nobody under 13 allowed in without an adult. Mildly graphic violence (think "Temple of Doom", which was the inspiration for this rating).
* R - Nobody under 17 allowed in without an adult. Graphic violence, nudity, sexual themes
* NC-17 -- Nobody under 17. Period. Extremely graphic violence, explicit sex, etc...
Re:I can live with it (Score:3, Informative)
That's the point. Repression of sex in general led to aberrance, such as child prostitution. Suppression of underage sex wasn't the problem.
-Dan
Re:I can live with it (Score:3, Informative)
...most won't even have a chance to gun people down. This makes it easier for violence to be isolated into the pure fantasy realm.
If only there were means of violence that didn't involve guns. Perhaps like this [www.cbc.ca]. The murder in Anola was blunt-force trauma. I have it on good authority that the weapon which caused that, the one the murderer turned to for his crime of passion, was a baseball bat. Do you think his two children were less affected by the violence they witnessed, the murder of their mother by their father, simply because it wasn't a gun?
Your statement is obtuse and narrow-minded, worthy of this fantasy realm of which you speak.
Re:I can live with it (Score:4, Informative)
NC-17 replaced X. Because X wasn't trademarked, the pr0n guys pretty much wrecked it's reputation for "mainstream" films, and X became associated with pr0n only. The MPAA made damned sure that they trademarked NC-17.
A couple of films that were X when they were released were Last Tango in Paris, and Midnight Cowboy.
Re:I can live with it (Score:1, Informative)
Those countries aren't really sexually repressed, although they may have more social repression. Germany for example, shows soft-core porn on network television after a certain hour.