Die Hard, meet Terminator, welcome to the castrated 4th club. We learn this morning that the next Terminator is slotted to be PG-13 thanks to the professionals at Variety:
As production starts today on “Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins,” the next installment in the action franchise, producers at the Halcyon Co. say they aim to deliver a PG-13 movie to Warner Bros. for release on May 22, 2009. The “Terminator” series is one of the highest-grossing R-rated franchises of all time, with the first three films having grossed more than $1.03 billion worldwide. But Halcyon producers thought it was time to broaden the upcoming fourth film’s audience base, and they believe the PG-13 won’t compromise the series’ gritty vision.
“The ratings have changed,” said Halcyon co-founder and co-CEO Victor Kubicek, a broker-turned-writer-producer. “The PG-13 has increased in intensity.” A family-friendly rating opens many doors, including a “Terminator Salvation” licensing deal for action figures with Playmates Toys.
Yea, well….this certainly sounds like bullshit. Why the fuck would you take a series that has been restricted and make the fourth installment PG-13? Oh wait, for toy deals! Fuck that shit. I was looking forward to this film, and now I am certainly skeptical about this team’s desire to stay true to the original series at all.
I could be over reacting. The truth is, violence against machines gets a much lesser rating than violence against people; perhaps the film will be everything we want it to be at PG-13, I am just very skeptical. I think Restricted is probably the rating you need to work with when you are dealing with the topic of human extermination. I just can’t see PG being able to handle that subject well, perhaps if the robots just spanked everyone (with their pants on).
This news certainly raises red flags for me, and my anticipation for the film has certainly lessened some. Do you guys feel the same way – or is it no big deal?
