For the most part, the most harsh rating a Superhero film would get is a PG-13. Now there have been exceptions to this rule, but this is where most of them fall. So with that in mind, today an announcement came out of Marvel Studios that they will not be doing ANY R rated films.
Marvel executive Peter Cuneo spoke at length today regarding Marvel Studio and their future and stated their decision not to make any R-rated films.
I can see how this makes financial sense. Their target audience is far wider with such a generous rating, but still warns of the obvious violence you might see in a Superhero movie.
Plus, it is a little hypocritical to make toys for preschoolers based on the franchise of characters you restrict only adults from seeing, so it cuts out a channel of revenue for them to harden a film.
My only concern is when you have characters in scenarios that make up the essence of the character. For example, both Blade and the Punisher were Rated R films – with good reason. If they watered these movies down to be acceptable PG13 movies, the very essence of the character would be lost. Implied violence just doesn’t allow for the Punisher to look as cold and brutally intimidating as he is.
Marvel once had these darker more adult stories were pushed off into Marvel’s subimprint called Marvel Knights, but then later moved back into the standard Marvel Imprint. Perhaps Marvel films will have a sub studio putting out more adult stories?
So considering all the most successful of Marvel films have all been PG-13 its not a stretch to see why they would not be bothered by this.
But are there any stories you would have hoped to see come to film that might have deserved an R Rating?
