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SALT LAKE CITY - 2012 is proving to be a huge year for movies. Records seem to be falling left and right and expect audiences to continue to fill the theaters throughout the summer months. With big attractions like "The Dark Knight Rises," "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "The Bourne Legacy" headed to cinemas in the coming months ticket sales will continue to rise.
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One film people are drooling over is "Prometheus." Ridley Scott is returning to the sci-fi genre with this summer spectacle. The film has created a massive amount of buzz, but it also was stamped with an R-rating from the MPAA. That may not seem like a big deal, considering it is another addition to the "Alien" franchise, and all of those films have received an R-rating. The exception being "AVP: Alien vs. Predator" (2004). But many would argue that's not truly an alien film. But an R-rating could possibly hurt the film when it's released.
Large-budget summer releases are rarely rated R, with the exception of comedies. An R-rating restricts anyone under 17 from buying a ticket without an adult. This typically will hurt the film's sales in the long run.
For example, in summer 2010, the highly anticipated sci-fi/action film "Predators" was released on July 9 and pulled in $52 million domestically. A week later the sci-fi action film "Inception" opened and made over $290 million domestically. While the debate may be made that "Inception" was a superior film, the PG-13 rating also opened it to audiences that couldn't legally buy a ticket to "Predators."
PG-13 movies are the real money makers for studios and that's exactly why films like the Bourne series and Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy have been PG-13. Marvel Studios even made an announcement that they would not make an R rated film. Some may see that was a moral choice, but in all honesty it was a financial choice.
"Prometheus" is a big budget sci-fi epic being released right in the middle of the summer movie season. All of those factors added together usually equal a PG-13. So, it raises the question, can "Prometheus" thrive with an R rating?
To give some perspective, the action flick "300" made over $200 million domestically. That haul makes "300" the highest grossing R-rated action film in the past five years. But, the stylized Zack Snyder directed epic was released during a weak March in 2009. "Prometheus" will hit screens in June of 2012, within weeks of big time films like "Rock of Ages," "Brave" and "Snow White and the Huntsman." That's stiff competition from films that are deemed appropriate for younger audiences by the MPAA.
Something else to keep in mind when comparing "Prometheus" and "300" is the production budget. "300" reportedly had a budget of $65 million. A budget for "Prometheus" has not officially been released, but it's fair to say it will be at least in the $100 to $120 million range.
With all of this in mind, "Prometheus" could likely be the film that kicks the door wide open for studios to start producing more R-rated summer fare. The Ridley Scott epic has a huge following and we haven't seen him return to his sci-fi roots since "Blade Runner" in 1982.
The hype alone will likely make "Prometheus" a box office success, but the R rating could keep it from being the blockbuster studios are hoping for.
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