General Discussion

Afraid it's not a new terminator model but the projected rating for Terminator: Salvation...

"

The pre-production buzz circling Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins" has had a lot of ups and downs. Down: McG is directing. Up: Christian Bale will play John Connor. Now we go back down again: The producers are making efforts to ensure that the film is rated PG-13.

As expected, it's the same old rationale. Halcyon co-CEO Derek Anderson rhetorically asks, "If we can make a compelling film to reach the widest audience, why wouldn't we do it?" His partner Victor Kubicek told Variety, "The ratings have changed. The PG-13 has increased in intensity."

This is all in spite of the fact that the "Terminator" series so far has been one of the highest grossing R-rated franchises of all time, with the three films grossing over a billion dollars worldwide. But then Variety aptly counters this argument by pointing out that "Live Free or Die Hard," the only PG-13 entry in the saga of John McClane, turned out to be the highest earning last summer with $382.1 million gross.

But putting money aside for a moment, the PG-13 is not the R-rating. And while they may be broadening the audience considerably, they're also disappointing the true fans of the series who have come to expect a certain level of mayhem and violence. 

One other thing I read that could be a new "up" is that Josh Brolin's name has been thrown around to play the new humanoid terminator. We should find out fairly soon hopefully, as production begins today.

-David Morgan"

http://www.filmwad.com/-terminator-4-angles-for-pg-13-6236-p.html

PG-13. I hate it. I simply hate it. But at least they've decided that it should be PG-13 in pre-production, rather than slaughtering the whole movie with "forced" editing to ensure low rating.

Terminator 4 should have

Rated R for strong sci-fi violence and action, and for language and brief nudity

not

Rated PG13 for off screen kills and teletubby terminators.

Live Free or Die Hard was a horrible movie.  One of the worst I've ever seen.  If that's what they are trying to model this after then I definitely won't be seeing it.

They did this with the first Aliens Vs. Predator movie.  4 "Alien" movies, 2 "Predator"s, all rated R... suddenly teenagers become the most likely segment of the population to go to a theatre... and walla- PG-13 Alien Vs Predator.

The good news is the first did so bad that the sequel, AVP: Requiem- did return to an R rating.  Hollywood is learning it's lesson slowly.  Part of what they are doing is releasing DVD's out faster.  The studios dont care whether they make their money from the theatre or DVD sales.  Seeing as how nobody goes to the theatre anymore- DVDs are coming out much sooner after a movie is released.  They're predicting an end to big box multiplexes in the next decade or so. 

Some of the reasoning behind the changes from R to PG-13 is that kids can't just walk into an R movie like they could during my youth.  No one carded me when I saw "Friday the 13th" or "Nightmare on Elm Street" and I was a young teenager at the time.  So, to continue making the same level of money, movie producers have to lower the rating or their core audience won't be able to buy the tickets.