Rene Rosa (aka “Evil Adam”) over at UGO Movie Blog recently spent some time on the set of Sylvester Stallone’s tough-guy action flick throwback, The Expendables. During his time on the set, Rene managed to unearth a startling bit of news: According to producer Avi Lerner, The Expendables is going to be edited in two versions: A PG-13 cut and an R-rated cut, which will then be test-screened to determined which version makes it into theaters!!!
I haven’t cared this much about the opinions of focus groups since the last election.
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Here’s how this startling news came to light: Rene Rosa was apparently probing Avi Lerner about the next Rambo film (apparently Rambo 5 is definitely going to happen and will be less brutal than the last installment), which led to a discussion about The Expendables and the level of violence we can expect from that film. That’s when Lerner dropped the bomb about the possible PG-13 cut.
PAUSE: We are talking about The Expendables here – a film that unites Sly Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Danny Trejo, Eric Roberts and Arnold Schwarzenegger (in a cameo appearance). These are men who have, each on their own, caused enough onscreen mayhem to fill a L.A. swimming pool full of corn-syrup blood. How do you cram all those guys into one (awesome) film and then neuter it down to PG-13???
Eric Roberts and Steve Austin feeling the burn
More to the point: I know the studio wants this film to be a smash franchise (the budget has reportedly swelled to $80 million, what with all the big names and big explosions involved), but who is going to REALLY be the core audience for this type of movie? Young teens who don’t even remember the heyday of the tough-guy action flick? Or adult males like yours truly, who will flock to the theater to see his favorite tough-guys scrap? I’m not a damn little boy – give me my R-rated Expendables!!!
Seriously though, if The Expendables ends up with a PG-13 Rating, I (and I suspect many other guys) am going to be forced to wait for the unrated DVD/Blu-ray to drop. That will leave just some half-interested teens and impatient older-types to fatten the box office. Good luck with that.
Test-screeners, if you’re out there and listening: DON’T BE FOOLISH, THE EXPENDABLES NEEDS AN R-RATING. We know you’ll do the right thing (you better).
Do you think this news is as ridiculous as I do?
The Expendables is set to hit theaters on April 23, 2010.
Source: UGO Movie Blog
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57 Comments
Gotta be rated ‘R’. No question.
The funny thing about this debate – how much the studio system is failing and how there is no way to stop it. Look, movie ratings are not important. We can all cite examples of good and bad PG-13 films. A PG-13 does not preclude a movie from being good or bad. Having said that, two genres have taken it on the chin as of late: Action and Horror.
The wave of PG-13 horror films have been scary. Since they cannot have any blood, there is little dread and no real fear. Have of what made R rated horror so chilling was seeing people get dispatched in horrific ways. I mean who wants to go that way? or that way? Now were left with computer generated ghosts and lame stories and pretty much every film feels like a movie you watched a week ago under a different name. Before anyone says “Drag Me To Hell”, please consider the genre as a whole and not the one or two exceptions.
Actions films have also taken it on the chin. Yes, Taken was good and so was The Dark Knight. Having said that, where is our lethal weapon or Bad Boys of this decade. Lets face it, if we EVER see another Lethal Weapon movie, it will be PG-13. I was surprised Rambo was allowed to be R Rated. For as much as I was entertained by the last Die Hard movie, it was missing the brutatlity of parts 1 and 2. There in lies the problem. PG-13 action movies tend to not be as brutal or they are full of so many quick shots you cannot follow the action very well. That did not happen much in the 80s.
While I stick to my premise that ratings do not matter, the movie matters. If the studios want to make kid friendly PG-13 movies, they have a right. It is there money. All I ask is that we do not draw so much attention to it by watering down franchises to fit the mold. Die hard is R rated, ALL Die Hard films should be rated R. If you do not have the stomach for another R rated Die Hard film, then write the script, change all the names and make it an original unrelated film. Peace!
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