The New Mutants pushed for R rating but (unsurprisingly) failed
Despite the best efforts of the film’s staff and FOX itself, The New Mutants could not obtain the R rating that so many were desperately hoping for.
It has been a long, somewhat exhausting three year journey for The New Mutants to make its way to the big screen, but now, finally, the film will be making its theatrical debut in just over a month from now. Officially, The New Mutants will be hitting theaters on Apr. 3.
When the date and release of the film stopped being a major concern, its rating started to come into question. The reason being because as a horror film, The New Mutants – as director Josh Boone loosely put it in an interview with Empire Magazine (h/t Dread Central) – pushes the limits of what’s expected of a PG-13 film, practically bordering it on an R rating.
Even producer Simon Kinberg was skeptical for how the film could be rated and marketed, as were FOX. As Kingberg explained to Collider, “It’s the kind of movie that could go R, or it could be a hard PG-13 … The studio is open to either rating.” Interestingly enough, Boone later shut down the idea back in January on Instagram that an R rating was even considered.
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Despite Boone’s conflicting assertion, enough parties brought up the possibility of the film being rated R that it leaves one to wonder if they pushed for it. As unlikely as it may sound, we do live in a world now where superhero movies like Logan and Deadpool live and breathe off an R rating with great success. Unfortunately for those who wanted that same success for The New Mutants, that is not a film which will be afforded that same luxury.
We have now learned (per CBR) that the MPAA have now officially licensed The New Mutants with the family friendly PG-13 rating that is more traditional for the typical comic book adaptation and superhero movie. Per a tweet from Exhibitor Relations, the film has been rated PG-13 for – among many things – disturbing, violent and bloody imagery.
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Sounds like even without the R rating, the film is still bound to push its PG-13 rating to its limit. Are you upset that it won’t have an R rating? Let us know in the comments below!