12 does not exist in BBFC for cinema anymore, replaced by 12a, because of Spider-man (2002) whilst 12a doesn’t feature in home video, still retaining 12.
Point is, regardless of all else, No Time To Die will be 12a. Eon removed a single line from Casino Royale (in the torture scene) to get 12a over 15. Blu-ray boxsets (which have 15 anyway because of LTK) restored the one line and Goldeneye head butting, bringing both Campbell’s films to a 15. Buy the solo edition, 12 rated, versions, and both those (tiny) moments are absent.
Odd trivia: The 12 rating was both introduced and changed because of comic book movies - introduced because of pressure regarding Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), then changed to 12a because of pressure regarding Sam Raimi’s Spider-man (2002)
It’s purely cause 12a becomes 12 again by home release.
Ratings systems are entirely controlled by angry campaigns by the ilk of One Million Moms and Mary Whitehouse. The rest of the population just ambivalently go “okay”
Many complaints that parents couldn’t take their kids to see it, essentially the same thing that had it created in the first place. Both Batman and Spider-man tipped over the PG rating, but because of assumptions that super heroes = kids movie, complaints were made. BBFC slightly buckled both times.
That sounds like the MPAA as well. The PG-13 rating was created after Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was deemed too violent for a PG audience. The rating system the MPAA uses though, is confusing and is applied rather inconsistently. Generally, extreme violence, language, and sex are for R ratings. Though, certain movies such as Live Free or Die Hard avoided the use of the word f*** to get a PG-13 rating even though the film is super violent. Titanic managed a PG-13 rating despite Kate Winslet’s bare boobs. I think the problem is that certain groups only see things as profanity and not how the scene works organically. Graphic violence is generally considered less profane for the American public than bad language, which makes no sense to me.
And the ‘fucker’ is still clearly heard. Apparently, the MPAA allows for one use of that word in a PG-13 film. But sometimes, films will do bizarre jumping jacks to get around bad language, when in normal life it would make total sense for people to swear in certain situations.
I guess it’s more of a culture thing ? I come from a non English speaking, non western culture where swear words and nudity are a huge no-no, whereas an R rated gore fest is completely tolerated by Parents wether it be in a movie or video game.
There’s a 2006 documentary film called “This Film Is Not Yet Rated” which covers the U.S. MPAA ratings board quite accurately and interestingly. The board is made up of about a dozen adults from the valley in California, most of whom don’t have young kids (or if they do, they’re over 18.) A second F-word is an automatic R (see Downhill, which has no nudity or violence, but half a dozen F-words earning it an R-rating.) Topless nudity is allowed for less than a certain number of seconds and can still be PG (see Airplane!) Curiously, the second episode of Star Trek Picard would earn an R as it has 2 F-words.
Ironically, the documentary itself initially got an NC-17 rating. The director appealed, and the film itself is still not yet rated.
I find it strange in how arbitrary social markers are. The idea that violence is absolutely fine but mere words are to be scared of, even when demonstrated to those who do not natively speak the language.
I mostly find it odd that violence - the bit that is actually universal, is less judged universally than the things that are culturally defined.
I’ve spent 19 years of my life in Kuwait, The oil rich country in the Middle East (Yes, the one Ian Fleming was commissioned to write a book on which wasn’t published as It was considered to be too risqué by our royals at the time). Though I am not natively from Kuwait I remember the culture worked the same way as mine, no one cared about violence in Movies, just that nudity and swear words aren’t tolerated whatsoever.
I remember seeing kids as young as 8 walk into R rated movies as there isn’t a barrier to entry, they’ll just cut out the nudity and bleep out the swear words and everyone was welcome. It was the same with video games you’d see kids playing games which were clearly intended for adults.
Maybe its because we’ve lived through the Iraq invasion which desensitised people in some respects. That’s just a guess since I’ve seen this trend in many other cultures too
When it comes to cutting stuff for any other reason than story then the dog’s wagging the tail. Can’t say how bad it is in mainstream movies, but in telly the tail is so damn omnipotent that the dog’s simply it’s bitch.
Social media and the ‘due care’ circus it’s brought with it has made virtually every aspect of the creative process a potential trigger for tabloid front pages. Being the original, fundamental due care machine for movies the ratings board must be having a bit of headache trying categorise with social media breathing down their necks.
But speaking more practically and in terms of swearing, these days, if it’s before 9pm you not only need to bleep the word, but also blur the mouth, which can be unintentionally funny.
And for content of a sexual nature (not necessarily containing a naughty word) the rule of thumb is: if a kid asks their parent, or whomever, what that meant, is the explanation sexual… After 9 you can say whatever the BLEEP you want
Readable article, though I am curious as to what “metrics” the author uses other than “significant social media buzz” to gauge his box office predictions. That said, it does appear that in terms of competition, the delays etc have ultimately left NTTD landing on its feet re: sharing screens (or not) with other big ticket productions.
From the IMAX earnings call just now - the film will be released “a few days early” in IMAX cinemas. presumably meaning in the US/Canada where the film is out April 10 compared to UK/international from April 2.
