Well, wouldn’t you know it? The much-anticipated Blade Runner 2049 film has been tagged with an R-rating. There are times when there are rumors that suggest that certain movies are hit with R-rating but turn out to be not true; however, the director of Blade Runner 2049, Dennis Villeneuve, has confirmed that the film currently carries an R-rating. There are a lot of questions that come to the surface when critics and film experts examine the cause and effect of this rating. Why was the film hit with an R-rating, and how will it be impacted by the rating?
This [easyazon_link identifier=”B000SW4DLM” locale=”US” tag=”tvovermind00a-20″]Blade Runner[/easyazon_link] installment is a continuation of the original story introduced by Ridley Scott more than 35 years ago. The most prevalent difference between the movie that Ridley delivered and the latest installment is the fact that it may be necessary to leave those kids at the house with the nanny. The MPAA has officially assigned an R-rating to the film for some sexuality, language and violence.
While some people seem to be taken back by it in a world in which almost every movie gets a PG-13 rating at worst, the truth is that Ridley Scott’s introduction of this story also received an R-rating. Granted an R-rating back then wasn’t the death sentence it is now, or is it a death sentence. One might consider it to be so, primarily because it represents an immediate cut in ticket revenue and many parents will be leaving their children under 17 at home, representing money that the movie creators will never see.
What has to be understood here is the fact that this film is meant to tell a story in a way that does not relent in the area of intensity and truth. It is not meant to be soft and filtered, so it has come to no surprise to its director and producers that the film received an R-rating.
As to the question of how the movie will be impacted by the rating, in my opinion, it will not be hurt at all. The rating may ever serve to bolster the film’s performance at the box office and beyond. It may even lead to a sequel. What does all of this mean? While everyone knows that the film has garnered an R-rating, very little has been revealed in the promotion of the film to explain why – meaning that the secrets concealed within the film remain intact. All of this means that the public will have to rush to the theaters on release night to see why in the world the film received such a severe rating.
The rating also provides latitude for the creators and director to open the door for more intense content in the future, through a sequel.
The R-rating has provided the mystery that the primary promotional mechanism could not have provided on their own, and all without revealing any of the inner-workings of the film. In some ways, the R-rating was a gift to the filmmakers, and now it will be up to them to determine how they will leverage this gift. Will Blade Runner 2049 be a one-and-done or could this become a powerful franchise ignited by an R-rating?
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