I have yet to get around to seeing The King’s Speech, but I am hearing a lot of good things about it. That being said, despite its raving critical reviews, the film is not exactly raking in the cash, so they are proposing an edited version that would remove the foul language that earned it that dreaded R rating.
Wait… on a $15million budget, the movie (which had virtually no maketing in comparison to other blockbusters) is currently sitting at $107million worldwide. How is this a bad thing?
So imagine my surprise that with such positive word of mouth, news hits that the producers are looking to re-edit the film to remove some of the offensive language used in the movie to earn it a more family friendly rating – hoping this will allow the film to be enjoyed by a broader audience?
According to the LA Times (via THR) Weinstein is looking to trim some of the biopic’s so-called obscene language so that the R-Rated drama can be resubmitted to the dreaded MPAA for a PG-13 or even PG rating. He’s been hashing out this proposed plan of action with the film’s now Oscar-nominated director, Tom Hooper.
“The British numbers are huge because the rating lets families see the movie together,” Weinstein told the Times. “Tom and I are trying to find a unique way to do this that keeps his vision of the movie.”
I am stunned that a movie that is getting such positive reviews, and is earning a very successful amount of cash, would resort to these tactics to try and dig deeper into those pockets.
And honestly, if language is the harshest criticism the film is getting, I assure you all those Apatow films your kids are watching behind your back are going to be worse.
I could understand making the decision to change the dialogue to earn a more family friendly rating before the film is released. That is the filmmaker’s choice to find their mark while being financially responsible. But the film did NOT choose to alter the foul language, and as I understand, this adds more impact to the film’s premise of a speech therapist working with the King to clean up his dialect and public image.
To change this now is just plain and simple marketing. A cash grab.
Changing a film for ratings might be a financial decision I can respect, however it just tastes worse now because the movie has come out, and is already doing well.
