March 23, 2009
According to a report over on IESB.NET, Warner Bros. is mandating that superhero/comic book films -- as well as “tentpoles” -- are to be PG-13. Apparently, the R-rated WATCHMEN‘s box office -- or lack thereof -- is behind this decision.
WATCHMEN took in $55 million (domestic) opening weekend and has fallen sharply since. Based on that, I get it -- WB wants these sort of films to available to a larger audience. But I don’t know what they were expecting here -- it’s WATCHMEN for crissakes! But I get it.
Now don’t worry, I don’t think that the fine folks in Burbank are demanding that all DC-based films go the route of FANTASTIC 4, OK. Hell, THE DARK KNIGHT was pretty damn dark and it was rated PG-13 -- and it made a BILLION DOLLARS! Just don’t expect the upcoming GREEN LANTERN, WONDER WOMAN, and BATMAN 3 to include F-bombs, sex, and bloody/gory violence. And frankly, I have zero desire to see an R-rated BATMAN, GL, or WW anyway.
Now on the other hand, if a film of this genre demands an R-rating to tell the story properly, I’d hope WB wouldn’t put the ‘ol kibosh on it. This mandate does reek a bit of “Well, it’s a comic book film -- they’re for kids,” which certainly isn’t cool.
Overall, I’ve got no problem with this. For the full story, visit IESB.NET.
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