This was an interesting argument

I know a few of you guys from North America (Canada and the US) have some very adult tastes in films some of you very adult (tut tut)

How do you feel about the current rating system?

I notice that he left out the fact that submitting a film to the MPAA is 100% voluntary and, as Ace noted, Home Video releases do not have to be rated at all.  In fact, the fact that a home vidio release is unrated, can be a huge selling point.

Quoting TheMovieman:

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they'll slap that on to a movie by adding an extra minute of inconsequential scenes to get it.

It's an interesting fact that people would rather watch an "unrated" version with a couple more "inconsequential scenes" than the "R" rated theatrical cut, but very few would be interested in watching a "PG-13" or "PG" rated version of the same film with just a few more "inconsequential scenes" cut.  They seem to feel as if they're missing something.  What they're usually missing are "inconsequential scenes".

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Quoting scotthm:

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Quoting TheMovieman:

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they'll slap that on to a movie by adding an extra minute of inconsequential scenes to get it.

It's an interesting fact that people would rather watch an "unrated" version with a couple more "inconsequential scenes" than the "R" rated theatrical cut, but very few would be interested in watching a "PG-13" or "PG" rated version of the same film with just a few more "inconsequential scenes" cut.  They seem to feel as if they're missing something.  What they're usually missing are "inconsequential scenes".

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Probably. There's only been a couple "Unrated" releases that were significantly different, the one that springs to mind (since it recently came out) is Salt. As discussed in another thread, while the Extended Cut is only 4-minutes longer, what was added made a big difference in both tone and the final outcome.

And in my example about Daredevil, the R-rated version (which was rated that because, IIRC, it was the director's initial submission to the MPAA before it got cut down for the PG-13 rating) was more violent and darker in tone (plus the addition of an F-bomb).

Quoting Voltaire53:

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Quoting paulb_99:

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Quoting TheMadMartian:

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I notice that he left out the fact that submitting a film to the MPAA is 100% voluntary

But isn't it so that the majority of cinema's refuse to carry films not rated by the MPAA thereby making it more or less involuntary. I vaguely remeber reading this.

AIUI (from watching "This Film is Not Yet Rated" (which of course had its own slant and agenda too!)) yes; many (all?) of the major theatre chains will not show unrated or NC-17 movies so if you want any sort of wide distribution you have to make sure it's showable as an R.

IIRC this situation is exacerbated by the fact that, unlink in the UK, the big theatre chains are even independent, they're actuall part of the studio system (but I may be wrong on this and wait to be corrected!)

Im pretty sure the studio owned theatres ended back in the 60's 

Quoting FilmAlba:

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Quoting Voltaire53:

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Quoting paulb_99:

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Quoting TheMadMartian:

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I notice that he left out the fact that submitting a film to the MPAA is 100% voluntary

But isn't it so that the majority of cinema's refuse to carry films not rated by the MPAA thereby making it more or less involuntary. I vaguely remeber reading this.

AIUI (from watching "This Film is Not Yet Rated" (which of course had its own slant and agenda too!)) yes; many (all?) of the major theatre chains will not show unrated or NC-17 movies so if you want any sort of wide distribution you have to make sure it's showable as an R.

IIRC this situation is exacerbated by the fact that, unlink in the UK, the big theatre chains are even independent, they're actuall part of the studio system (but I may be wrong on this and wait to be corrected!)

Im pretty sure the studio owned theatres ended back in the 60's 

Let's see who owns what, using where I see movies - Louisville, KY - as example:

Rave Motion Pictures - 2 theatres
Cinemark Theatres - 1 theatre
Republic Theatres - 1 theatre
Apex Entertainment - 2 theatres

None of these are owned by studios.  However, the Rave theatres used to be Showcase Cinemas, which is a brand of National Amusements, which has "controlling voting interests" in CBS & Viacom - and Viacom is parent company to Paramount (among others).  So it can be said that with Showcase (which apparently operates 1500 movie screens in US & abroad) is owned by the 'studio' - if in a very convoluted way.

A quick check of the other largest chains (which have no presence in our market) - AMC Theatres & Regal Entertainment - shows them to be separate companies as well.  At least, no parent company is listed in their wiki entries.

In the UK all films must be rated by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification). Although in the 80s many films were cut it is exceptionally rare for anything to be cut these days (and in fact it's more about older cut films now being passed uncut) although companies will cut something to make sure a film can be released in the cinema as a 12 rather than a 15 (so that they can get a bigger crowd). They can release different cuts with different ratingd though. For example, The Expendables is available uncut as an 18 on Blu-ray but cut on DVD as a 15 where 2 seconds were cut where a guard gets a knife twisted in his neck. These days the only cuts you tend to see are for animal cruelty (ie. horse trips) and glorifying sexual violence. The advent of DVD and a HUGE relaxation in rules has resulted in many movies having previous cuts waived. A great site for latest news is http://www.melonfarmers.co.uk/latest.htm

Quoting TheMadMartian:

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Quoting TheMovieman:

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And normally is because they'll slap that on to a movie by adding an extra minute of inconsequential scenes to get it. I might start a thread to see what movies that were originally rated and got an unrated release on home video that really was a difference (for better or worse) as IMO, they're too few and far between.

That wasn't really the point I was trying to make.  What I was trying to say was, because the rating system is voluntary, we can have unrated releases.  If I understand it correctly, the UK can't...even the special features have to be rated.  I don't think I have a single title where the special features are rated.

Yeah, I know. Sorry, I went on my own tangent about unnecessary unrated releases there only to boost sales because people may think there's something juicy added in (even on movies that were never even released to theaters).