PG-13 remakes of R-rated films?

MakeEmLaugh

Most would agree, cinema - particularly genres like horror, science-fiction and action - has been churning out far too many remakes in recent years.

To me, one of the most annoying aspects of this is when films that were previously 18-certificate/R-rated are remade as neutered PG-13 fare.

Take, for instance

Total Recall (2012)
The Wicker Man (2006)
Robocop (2014)

Can anyone think of any other examples?

Sad Professor

In fairness, Robocop isn’t out yet, and Total Recall didn’t feel neutered by being PG-13 to me. Both original films belong to that era of ‘80s over-the-top ultra-violence, which I can’t imagine today’s kids responding to in the same way that we did.

FlashD

Sad Professor wrote: »

Both original films belong to that era of ‘80s over-the-top ultra-violence, which I can’t imagine today’s kids responding to in the same way that we did.

Why? How would they react differently to an 80's ultra violent flick such as Aliens, Robocop or Terminator compared to a PG13 version?

Can't think of any examples myself but a lot of 80's franchises have slowly been watered down, Terminator is a great example, T1 starting off as an dark violent 18's, T2 cleaner 15's, and T.Salvation came down to PG13.

There is actually a lot of leeway with the PG-13 rating, when you really boil it down. Sure it doesn't have the same level of uber-violence, but they are allowed a relatively high level, but without the level of cursing you'd have in others. Die Hard 4.0 is a pretty good example of this.

Sad Professor

FlashD wrote: »

Why? How would they react differently to an 80's ultra violent flick such as Aliens, Robocop or Terminator compared to a PG13 version?

Can't think of any examples myself but a lot of 80's franchises have slowly been watered down, Terminator is a great example, T1 starting off as an dark violent 18's, T2 cleaner 15's, and T.Salvation came down to PG13.

Because tastes change. Musclebound, one-man-army action heroes, cheesy one-liners and excessive violence was what audiences went for in the ‘80s, but by the early ‘90s they were dying out. Today’s teenagers want rapid-fire editing, superpowers and CGI-laden spectacle.

And T2 would have been rated 18 at the time if not for the cuts. Both films are now rated 15 uncut by the BBFC.

Sad Professor

Deleted User wrote: »

There is actually a lot of leeway with the PG-13 rating, when you really boil it down. Sure it doesn't have the same level of uber-violence, but they are allowed a relatively high level, but without the level of cursing you'd have in others. Die Hard 4.0 is a pretty good example of this.

I think with PG-13 the violence is mostly hidden in the cutting. Watching someone get their face smashed doesn’t have the same impact when you only see for 1 third of a second. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As entertaining as it was, most of the violence in ‘80s action films was hard to take seriously. The lack of bad language is probably the thing I miss the most.

The biggest problem with making a “hard" PG-13 in the US is that the MPAA are inconsistent and filmmakers have no idea what rating they are going to get until submit. There’s quite a few examples of films in which the director was probably aiming for PG-13 but got stuck with an R and didn’t have time to re-edit, resulting in a soft R. This is what probably happened with Kingdom of Heaven and Prometheus.

krudler

Context has a lot to do with it too. If it's cartoon violence or something more hard edged. If Jason Statham smacked a few people with bricks= violent. when it happens in Home Alone= comedy.

MakeEmLaugh

Sad Professor wrote: »

T2 would have been rated 18 at the time if not for the cuts. Both films are now rated 15 uncut by the BBFC.

Yes, and the uncut laserdisc was rated 18 at the time.

johnny_ultimate

The problem with the films mentioned above isn't that they're PG-13, it's that they're remakes greenlit solely based on the financial potential of the name rather than any artistic justification. Also that most of them - Robocop theoretically excluded, due to choosing a strong international action director - hired barely capable creatives, let alone the inevitable studio interference. I think the R rating arguments obscure the various other factors that are going to determine most of these remakes are going to be largely soulless, conservative affairs that attempt to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Although it should also be pointed out that old school action isn't commercial gold anymore - just look at how the likes of Dredd performed at the box office, only getting by thanks to a cult reception on home media.

By the sounds of early reports, The Raid 2 is what you want to be keeping an eye on if you want serious, brutal action that farts in the general direction of the MPAA and good taste.

beauf

You have the flip side of this. All the Kid franchises that been made darker and more violent. Batman, superman, episode 3 etc. Consider they aim the toys at younger kids but the movie at a much older audience.

beauf

There's hardly a shortage of violent and adult only suitable movies. If some dies in a movie even if shot with a pea shooter there's a shower of blood and gore as if they were hit by a cannon shell.

As you say its the poor quality of the some of the remakes is the main issue. But this is true of many industries, sticking to a known formula.

ps3lover

All these films don't seem to do very well at the box office either. Both Total Recall and Terminator Salvation didn't do well at all, the latter bankrupting the company that financed it.

beauf

Very weak scripts IMO, they seem to done by the numbers.

MakeEmLaugh

Okay, regardless of whether you think they are a good idea or a bad idea, can anyone think of any examples besides the aforementioned ones?

Totall Recall (2012)
Robocop (2014)
The Wicker Man (2006)

I was sure that The Omen (2006) and Rollerball (2002) were PG-13 but, much to my surprise, they were R-rated.

Are there any others?

Liam McPoyle

Ive come up with a revolutionary and radical way of not getting bent out of shape about remakes, I dont watch them or pay to see them in any way, shape or form, and viola, I dont care about them!

pixelburp

You could make the suggestion that as poor as these remakes invariably are, they probably cause a bump in purchases & views of the original films - and ultimately that's a good thing. Robocop may well be utter garbage, but it is bound to cause extra sales of the original film (and its two sequels, but sure we'll pretend they don't exist).

As for the remakes themselves, my assumption about all of them is that the simple reason they tend to be PG-13 is because that rating happens to be the easiest to market, distribute and make money off; safe and inoffensive enough to guarantee the multiplexes fill up with the curious and as wide an age group as possible.

If you want proper R rated action then you need to be looking at the direct to disc market. That said a lot of 15A films we get over here are often far more violent than the 80s classics we grew up on. Films such as Olympus Have Fallen and The Last Stand relish moments where people get shot in the head, blown apart, repeatedly stabbed, etc yet a 5 year old child can legally watch them if they have an adult accompany them

Tipsy McSwagger

Oh how I long for the days of brilliant R-rated films like 48 Hours.

krudler

Deleted User wrote: »

If you want proper R rated action then you need to be looking at the direct to disc market. That said a lot of 15A films we get over here are often far more violent than the 80s classics we grew up on. Films such as Olympus Have Fallen and The Last Stand relish moments where people get shot in the head, blown apart, repeatedly stabbed, etc yet a 5 year old child can legally watch them if they have an adult accompany them

It pains me to see action films with CGI blood instead of squibs though, give me proper effects any day. The action feels so sterile in modern films because it looks so fake.

krudler

krudler wrote: »

It pains me to see action films with CGI blood instead of squibs though, give me proper effects any day. The action feels so sterile in modern films because it looks so fake.

Again it depends on the action films you are watching. Ninja 2, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, any of the WWE action films, etc all relish the opportunity to paint the screen red with squibs

ps3lover

I found Olympus Has Fallen and The Last Stand to be relatively tame.
Don't even get me started on how tame The Expendables movies are.

ps3lover

ps3lover wrote: »

I found Olympus Has Fallen and The Last Stand to be relatively tame.
Don't even get me started on how tame The Expendables movies are.

The violence in Olympus Has Fallen is far more excessive and gratuitous than most of the beloved 80s classics. It's one of the few films where a woman is shown being shot in the head

beauf

Less bullets would have improved that movie.

Liam McPoyle

Th Punisher : Warzone is a fantastic example of as close to an 80s action flick you will get in modern times.

The most recent Rambo, though it did rely a bit on CGI in some sequences is also a good example.

Both of the above are very mean spirited unlike the Arnie 80s epics.

Tindie

The Stepfather (2009) remake was a 15= PG 13! , Old one was 18!

conorhal

Robocop's PG 13 future was almost guaranteed soon after the release of the original when the studio realized that the film made more from merchandising then it did at the box office and began to ask themselves, how many toys could we sell if only the kids playing with them could actually see the movie?
Marketing tie-ins are far more prevalent these days then they were back in the 80's, hence 3 different iterations of his robo-armor in the new movie and the addition of a robo-cycle. It’s no surprise really that cynical marketing exercises are less interesting in the script then they are in the whatever shelf space they can grab in Toys-R-Us.

MakeEmLaugh

I hope people don't regard this as spam - as I wrote it mainly as a springboard for some discussion - but this is an article on this issue, of toned-down remakes.
　


If you feel you may want to take a look, you can do so here...

Bipolar Joe

I think part of it is that what's deemed acceptable now is different from what was acceptable then. If Robocop was never made, and they made it now exactly how it was, it would receive a PG-13 or whatever.

beauf

The original is pretty violent.

Most of the merchandising from the new one will be sold to kids who can't watch it.

pixelburp

beauf wrote: »

The original is pretty violent.

Most of the merchandising from the new one will be sold to kids who can't watch it.

The original film may have been super-violent, but there were plenty of toys and merchandise cashing in on the 1987 release; ditto other R-rated films from the approximate era: Aliens, Terminator 2 etc.; even if kids couldn't technically see the film, there were still toys to play with - heck there was even a Robocop cartoon.

beauf

Makes no sense to me.

tupac_healy

To answer the OP'S question.....

Judge Dredd
Nightmare on elm street
Evil dead


And the most uncalled for remake/reboot on the basis of time alone has to be Amazing Spiderman