NC-17 movies refused to be stocked on the DVD shelves at all the major outlets such as Walmart, Blockbuster video, etc. However, they have no problem stocking a movie that says 'Unrated and Uncut'. Uncut implies that there is some material that is suppose to be higher than that of the original R rating that a lot of those movies were originally given. Some movies even say something like 'Footage that couldn't be shown in theaters', or lines of that sort. This is okay, yet NC-17 is considered to be a sin to marketers. Is there a justifiable distinction?
Why is 'unrated' such a popular marketing tool, but 'NC-17' isn't?
- Thread starter harmonica44
- Start date
A justifiable distinction? No. "Show Girls" gave NC-17 the kiss of death. NC-17 was intended to replace the old X rating because the porn industry had sullied the moniker. The thinking was that mature adults would be accepting of a movie that was not intended for children. "Benny and June" gave it a good start and theaters were starting to show films with NC-17 rating, but then "Show Girls" was such a colossal box office bomb, nobody would touch those films anymore. Wal-Mart fancies themselves the superstore of God and won't carry anything that might offend, what they perceive as, their Christian customer base. They don't even carry CDs with parental advisories. I guess that they consider an Unrated version of a mainstream film to be okay because it doesn't carry the "mark of the devil" NC-17 rating.
Good answer, Lucky. You pretty much nailed it.
You might want to check WalMart again and double check . . . I'm a bit surprised you're finding "unrated" films there.
According to IMDB, Benny and Joon is PG, not NC-17. I don't recall any NC-17 moments in it.
NC-17 or Unrated releases are DOA in theatrical distribution. Almost might as well not bother to release them because so few theatres will show them. You generally only see "Unrated" on DVDs, not theatrical releases.
Walmart does carry unrated versions of films that had an R rating in the theater. Check their website, only takes about 2 seconds to pull up unrated movies.
Once you make an edit to a film, you can't use the rating anymore. Unrated just means it has not received an MPAA rating yet (before theatrical release) or it has been edited for the DVD (scenes added, etc.). It has nothing to do with NC-17, or an actual rating. Care Bears could be Unrated.
You are correct. I meant to type "Henry and June". I had a brain fart.
Unrated (as in never rated by the MPAA) indie films?
Technically yes, but they advertise it in a way that implies it could be higher than R. I mean look at all the movies that it says unrated on. King Arthur, American Pie, etc. They put unrated on movies intended for adults more, and it never says them on family movies, or kids movies. Name one kids movie where on the cover it says 'Unrated and Uncut'? So they are trying to show off that the movie might have R or NC-17 content for adults by doing that. So my point is, why not just sell NC-17 movies in stores then, since it's the same marketing?
And if it's true that Showgirls ruined the NC-17 rating, then American society has a lot to answer for. How far have we sunk to ruin a rating for all time, over one movie.
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I guess so. I thought that the Unrated and Uncut crowd, who prefer their material uncut of course, would not mind the NC-17 rating since that also means uncut.
Yeah I know that, but my question is since stores have no problem selling movies that are unrated, and uncut, then why would they have a problem, selling ones that were rated NC-17 at all I mean? Like "Last Tango in Paris", or "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!", for example, NC-17 and you never see it in stores like Wal Mart or HMV. Hard time think of other ones, since they a lot of them were re-edited and rerated after. What I mean is is that they do not sell movies that were given the NC-17, and were released with that rating.
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They market it as if it is though, especially if the original version was R. Why put Unrated and Uncut under the title of the movie then? Why not put it in very small print on the back of the cover? The reason why they do it, is in hopes to market it to the NC-17 target audience. But they will not carry NC-17 movies for that audience, even though it's the same target audience. That's my point.
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Oh okay. So it's for the extra scenes and stuff. Got ya. They still never do that on kids movies though or movies for lesser adult ages.
If I understand what you're saying, the answer is that stores don't have any control over the rating on the movies that they sell. The reason that you don't see NC-17 DVDs is because you don't see NC-17 films in theaters. The vast majority of cinemas will not screen NC-17 flicks because they are not perceived as profitable. Since theaters won't screen NC-17, production companies edit the movies down to R so that they can be shown in theaters. It would be silly, and a waste of time, for the distributor to resubmit the film to the MPAA to have the 'Unedited' version re-rated as NC-17. As for indie flicks that might have been rated NC-17 from the beginning, how many independent films of any rating do you see in stores?