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Revenge of the Sith a "Blood Bath"
An anonymous reader writes "The BBC is reporting that the Revenge of the Sith is a blood bath and is to recieve a PG-13. One notable point from the article is Lucas is quoted as saying "But I have to tell a story. I'm not making these, oddly enough, to be giant, successful blockbusters. I'm making them because I'm telling a story, and I have to tell the story I intended." As he lit a cigar with a large stack of burning 20's."
With a PG-13 rating, parents will be forced to go with their children to watch the movie, so not only you get the expected children tickets, you now have as many adult tickets too, and the extra drink and popcorn sales. Truly a great success.
Now imagine if this superfan camping out for 139 days is under 13....
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
Yuh-hunh. Sin City and Kill Bill Volume 1 move over, this one's a blood bath. OOOOooooo....
That's the problem with them damn Brits, they don't realize it's boobies in movies that's the real corrupting influence, not a little innocent killing and maiming.
Freaking Jedi mind tricks...
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If you've read the dog of a script, then you know that it's stunningly bloody. Don't click on that link if you don't want to know everything - the whole script is there.
But this is slashdot. A slashdoter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber!
...Jar Jar meets a painful demise, I am happy.
"Useless organic meatbag" -HK-47
From TFS:
Yeah...we know all about the story you intended, George.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
If it was really a blood bath, it would be rated R. There's probably not gonna be anything more violent here than what we saw in Spider-Man 2.
On the other hand, I think the previous two Star Wars movies have been some of the most violent PG-rated films since the introduction of the PG-13 rating in the 80s. So, if MPAA is continuing to rate Star Wars on a curve just because it's targetted at children, maybe my original analogy is wrong after all.
UNIX: A computer user is defined as a programmer. WINDOWS: A computer user is defined as a consumer.
...would love to see Jar Jar Binks' death scene.
Circumcision is child abuse.
I hate it when directors cut down a movie just for a rating. This is a good thing. "A lot of people saying how can you do this? My children love these movies. Why can you not let them go see it?" he said. He's not preventing them from seeing it. He's just warning the parents that it may not be suitable for them. The parents get to decide wether or not they want their children to see it.
In my state (NC), at least, PG-13 is not a binding rating.
(Theoretically) A 7 year old could walk up and get into it without a parent. It's not like R, where it is enforced parental guidence, it's just a strong SUGGESTION.
Jay | http://oldos.org
Does this suprise anyone? We all know the story already. Darth Vader doesn't become Darth Vader with out some serious action. A clone army is not going to win a war with out a large loss of life. Yoda is not going to just leave the hot zone to live on some God forsaken swamp planet because a few people died. We've all know that it would take thousands and thousands of dead clones and mutilated Jedi.
On top of that, it has to be so bloody that we all lose hope. Otherwise, why would there be a "New" hope?
Rise Lord Vader!
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I love it when a good plan comes together.
"But I have to tell a story. I'm not making these, oddly enough, to be giant, successful blockbusters."
Unfortunately, Luca is not a good story teller. He is great at effects and the details that bring a vision to life. He really needed Spielberg.
Of course, there WAS no such rating when the original trilogy was released - just G, PG, and R. That said, I don't think any of the originals would have qualfied even if there was such a rating (which lies between PG and R, for folks outide of the US)
Enforcement? Its not Childer under 13 not allowed without a parent, its "Parental Guidence suggested for children under 13".
Why would parents be forced to go with their children? The -13 on the PG is simply an advisory notation; G, PG, and PG-13 all have the same admission criteria: Anyone can see it, no adult supervision required.
paintball
Unfortunately it won't stop parents from bringing their five year screaming, whining kids to the theaters so they can throw popcorn around and kick our seat backs. Of course if the movie's as ultraviolent as everyone's making it out to be, they'll just add to the illusion of debris flying through the air and the solid punch of the subwoofer.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
As if seeing Qui-Gon Jinn being run through and Darth Maul cut completely in half wouldn't be disturbing enough to some kids (or even a few adults)... or how about Anakin's hand arm being cut off? Or Luke's?
And those were just PG?
And some of the discussion between Anakin and Amidala about thier "first times"?
And that movie was NOT PG-13?
Lucas is using the whole ratings "controversy" as yet another way to get more free publicity!
And the media, and us, are eating it up...
The problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
Actually, most (11 out of the top 20) of the top (domestic) grossing movies of all time have been PG-13 or higher.
Spoiler Alert: Jar Jar drowns during the MonCal Water Spectacular gurgling "OH NOES! ITSA BEESA TRAP!", while a young Ensign Ackbar holds up a sign reading "9.8".
To think that this movie is somehow more violent than *this* planet is amusing. It is a restless day in which somebody is not blown to smithereens in Iraq yet I am supposed to feel outraged that the new Star Wars movie earned a pg-13 rating?
My outrage well is dry for the moment. Sorry.
I know, I know - it's just the old, "if you don't like it, SHUT UP!" || "if you like it then post on a fanboi forum! and SHUT UP" arguments.
But seriously, you cannot fault the technical achievements of these movies.
And I know that many (if not most) are of the opinion that movies are primarily about the characters and the story, but I am of very different taste.
you see, I am the kind of guy who sits down with EPII attack of the clones and pauses the corusant scenes and goes frame by frame through them to just admire all the amazing design and creation.
I love to stare in awe at the new particle systems, the accuracy of the human computer models and the beautiful, alien landscapes painted before my eyes.
But that's me, and I am of a small minority I know. I am that small minority that actually doesn't really care for chatty movies. Didn't really think the godfather was really all that. Never sees a movie unless there are spaceships and explosions - and then only if the movie is about that universe and not just the people in it.
Nevertheless I feel that those like me should have something of a voice.
There are three movie types in my world:
1) Movies about people
2) Movies about events
3) Movies about ideas
I prefer the order of importance to be 3,2,1 and Star Wars seems to fit that type for me quite well.
If people insist on going to see them regardless, then what incentive does he have to change his methodology? Many people on slashdot would go and see episode 3 if it was made from bad sock puppets and shoeboxes. Personally, I went and saw episode 1, came away disappointed and havent seen episode 2 yet, and I have no intentions of seeing episode 3 at all. I also havent bought any of the butchered 'remastered' versions of the origional trilogy for similiar reasons.
"Problem Child 2"? I'd say the theater did you a favor no matter what you age was.
"So why'd you leave Tatooine? Was it the desert?"
"No."
"The criminal element?"
"No."
"The poverty?"
"No."
"The slavery?"
"No."
"Well what was it?"
"Some jackass threw Jar Jar Binks into a pit of man-eating Sarlacc. He's been screaming 'Meesa needs help! Meesa ouchies! Help meesa!' for the last 300 years. Only 700 more to go."
I dunno, but I could have sworn I saw my ex in the scene. The staff with feathers on it and the bear-claw-laden necklace was throwing me off a little though.
-- Game Developers: Stop porting badly-textured games from crappy console systems!
That's a good point. The ratings specify for R that children under 17 are not permitted, while parents are simply cautioned about inappropriate material for PG-13.
Source
Of course, this is all still voluntary. There's no legal enforcement. However, I do know some movie theaters enforce the R rating (as I mentioned originally).
Forget the whales - save the babies.
Screenwriter magazine this month has an article on Star Wars. I spend my lunch hours in bookstores wayyyy too often.
Anyhow, the article is about how Lucas wanted to perpetuate the ties to mythic storytelling in his saga. Even though in '77, his initial interviews talked about little more than a Western in space, once the connections to Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth started happening, Lucas didn't exactly go out of his way to deny it.
I wonder if that, more than anything, overly influenced the latter trilogy. The epic fall from grace. Suddenly, I have visions of Lucas sitting around reading Milton and having inner dialogs about why Satan gets all the zingy one liners.
There's a ton of ways to read into Star Wars. The ancient Sith / Jedi split invokes the Jesuits, right down to the robes and the dress. If you've read the final script, you know that (spoiler ahead)
Anakin forsees the death of his beloved again and again (in very vividly written scenes) and it torments him, as he wants his children, but it starts to drive him mad, and he agrees to become Sith only to gain the power to change the future and save the woman he loves. But, in the end, when he thinks Obi-Wan has betrayed him, he force chokes her and nearly kills her. in fact, Sidious tells him later that his force choke DID kill her, which drives him right over the edge.
There's a strong influence of Greek tragedy in this script. Cheating death, changing fate. Being at the height of your intellectual and phsyical powers in your late 20's, thinking that the world owes you, that you are the sole master of your destiny and finding your mortality is still all too real.
The script is brutal. If it's shot that way, it would be a stark departure from the first two. The final scene between Anakin and Obi-Wan was suprising in it's adultness. He falls into the lava, his legs are burning, he can't get up. He's clawing the sand... all of his conceits wash away. No more rationalizations of how totalitarianism is somehow more benign, he just cringes and screams at Obi-Wan, hs face twisted and red "I hate you!!!". Obi-Wan leans down, a tear streaming in his eyes and responds "I always loved you. Like a brother." and walks away leaving him to burn.
That's serious Campbell territory. The mentor relationship, the hero who fails the test because jealousy consumes him.
So, when Lucas says 'I needed to tell this story', what I really think is happening is that he needs to fufill the power of myth aspects. This film is a violent fable. The father falls, the son redeems him. His fall needs to be brutal and ultimately apolitical. Anakin doesn't want power for power's sake. He wants respect, he wants everyone to love him and adore him. He has a God complex. There are many levels there.
I have a feeling that this movie will leave everybody wondering all the ways the first two could be redone. Anakin should have picked up in his early 20's someplace NOT tattooine. His struggle as a slave, beaten and oppressed, would have forced him into spirituality (not chemistry) and a brutal desire for acceptance and hatred for oppression that ultimately twisted around until the only way he could fufill that was to become the oppressor.
Oh, and the scene where he kills all the padawans, that could have been brutal if it had a flashback to his slave days. As it is, it's just disturbing and the script invokes Columbine somewhat, with the imagery focusing on his black cloak.
Queen Amidala: Oh no! some invisible force has removed my clothing!! I must put on some clothing.
Degenerate Jedi: You don't need to put any clothes on (waves hand in front of face).
Queen Amidala: I don't need to put on any clothes...
Degenerate Jedi: Yeah know, they say once you go darkside you never go back.
(que cheesy sci-fi music with inappropriate back beat)
You get the idea.
"Capital punishment makes the state into a murderer. Imprisonment makes the state into a gay dungeon-master"
George Lucas does not use cash to light his cigars. And I really wish people would stop characterizing him as such.
He uses the $20 bills as toilet paper (due to their cottony softness). He uses orignial Shakespearean manuscripts to light his cigars.
In the future, please be more sensitive.
"I should have done this with The Phantom Menace."
- PG13 Titanic (1997) $1,835,300,000
- PG13 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) $1,129,219,252
- PG Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) $968,600,000
- PG Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) $922,379,000
- PG13 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) $921,600,000
- PG13 Jurassic Park (1993) $919,700,000
- PG Shrek 2 (2004) $880,871,036
- PG Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) $866,300,000
- G Finding Nemo (2003) $865,000,000
- PG13 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) $860,700,000
- PG13 Independence Day (1996) $811,200,000
- PG13 Spider-Man (2002) $806,700,000
- PG Star Wars (1977) $797,900,000
- PG Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) $789,458,727
- PG13 Spider-Man 2 (2004) $783,577,893
- G The Lion King (1994) $783,400,000
- PG E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) $756,700,000
- R The Matrix Reloaded (2003) $735,600,000
- PG13 Forrest Gump (1994) $679,400,000
- PG13 The Sixth Sense (1999) $661,500,000
So obviously PG-13 doesn't hurt ticket sales much (if at all).So, instead, a token effort is made to protect children from severed limbs - while natural parts of a healthy life are [censored].
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Young anakin is actually DARTH VADER!!!
Meh.
Adn let's not forget that PG-13 came into being because of Lucas and Speilberg's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Here's a history of the ratings system from Answers.com.
I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.
So at the start of Episode 4, Yoda and Obi-wan are like the only Jedi still alive. This movie starts out with a bunch of Jedi living. BUT I NEVER EXPECTED A BLOOD BATH!!!!!!!!
It's not completely useless. It is true that the values are not adjusted for inflation, and that would be a useful update, but it doesn't need to be adjusted for ticket prices. If you're doing that, you should also adjust for G movies selling a larger percentage of matinee tickets (at a lower cost).
It's not supposed to be a measure of how many tickets were sold, otherwise it would be measured in tickets sold. It is a measure of how much cash the movie took in. Which do you think a studio cares more about: ticket sales or dollars generated?
For a very rigid economic analysis of movie profitability and its relationship to film ratings, that list would not be a good source. But for the purposes of this discussion of whether the PG-13 rating will hurt RotS, that list is a very good indicator that a PG-13 rating does not harm ticket sales.
Why single out PG-13... _all_ MPAA ratings are jsut advisory notations with no legal basis.
You mean no CRIMINAL legal basis. Theaters must enforce R and NC-17 ratings for movies distributed by members of the MPAA as a contractual condition of being able to show movies distributed by MPAA members.
Theaters are under no obligation to the distributors to regulate who may see G, PG, or PG-13 movies.
That's not to say a movie theater couldn't decide on it's own to not allow 12 year olds to see PG-13 movies, but if any do enforce such a policy, it's extremely rare, and entirely voluntary on a theater-by-theater basis.
paintball
I always find these movie ratings hilarious. Titanic featured a fully naked female(we are talking boobs, pubic hair etc) and still received a pg-13 rating, whereas movies that use the word "fuck" are given R ratings.....
Monstar L
Title, studio, adjusted amount, year of release
Source: Box Office Mojo
(Sorry, sorry. It only works once a year!)
Alison
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." - Albert Einstein
"Leo's head was blocking said bush."
I'll admit that I've not seen the movie so forgive me, but wouldn't the above certainly warrant at least an R?
I always find these movie ratings hilarious. Titanic featured a fully naked female(we are talking boobs, pubic hair etc) and still received a pg-13 rating, whereas movies that use the word "fuck" are given R ratings.....
Albert Brooks had a great comment about the very use of the word "fuck" with regard to ratings. He was hawking "Lost in America" on Conan O'Brien. He mentioned the movie got an R raiting because "fuck" was "used in a sexual context". Brooks pointed out, "[Say,] 'I want to fuck you over this desk' you'll get an R, but if you say, 'I want to fuck you over with this desk,' you'll get a PG-13. Exactly what are minors being protected from?"
# Return of the Jedi Fox $587,871,300 1983^
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