Quoting Prof. Kingsfield:

Quote:
Yes, not only US Films, any film in the US has to be rated by MPAA, even foreign films, just like US Films overseas have to go through the appropriate rating process.

Just so we are clear, no film in the US has to be rated by the MPAA.  It is a 100% voluntary rating system.

Quoting Ace_of_Sevens:

Quote:
Quoting TheMadMartian:

Quote:
Just so we are clear, no film in the US has to be rated by the MPAA.  It is a 100% voluntary rating system.

Most theaters won't show unrated movies, though. This is why anyone bothers to get a rating.

This I know, but Skip said "any film in the US has to be rated by MPAA."  I just wanted to make sure people knew that wasn't the case. 

Quoting Prof. Kingsfield:

Quote:
I thought you smart enough to know that I was referring to theatrical releases. And Ace noted, there are few if ANY theaters in the country that will shiow a film not rated by the MPAA, even the old Disney animation which existed long before MPAA ever was even dreamed of, have been rated by them. Good grief. Perrhaps i overestimated.

This is not true at all. There are at least four in my area that I can think of right off the top of my head.

Sure, maybe most major chains won't but of the four I know of, I've been to three of them and seen pictures not rated by the MPAA. (And, yes, they play theatrical releases, too).

We have one theatre in our area, our Art House theatre, that would carry an unrated film.  They don't do it very often, but they have done it in the past.

Quoting Prof. Kingsfield:

Quote:
I could be wrong, Alien but I know of not a single such theater in the DC/Baltimore market  that would show a movie that didn;t carry an MPAA rating and haven't seen such a thing in any of the various markets I am familiar with the last 30 years. The closest that I can think of is some the ummmm "Art" houses...yeah Art that the ticket...Art. And there is one of those in DC.

I guess you've never been to The Charles theater, then. Or The Senator. Or any of the Landmark Theaters in the DC area.

Quoting Prof. Kingsfield:

Quote:
I thought you smart enough to know that I was referring to theatrical releases. And Ace noted, there are few if ANY theaters in the country that will shiow a film not rated by the MPAA, even the old Disney animation which existed long before MPAA ever was even dreamed of, have been rated by them. Good grief. Perrhaps i overestimated.

Are you capable of having a conversation without resorting to snide and insulting remarks? 

Of course I knew what you wre referring to, but your statement is still incorrect.  There is no requirement that theatrical releases be rated by the MPAA.  Unlike some countries, where it is mandated by law, it is completely voluntary here in the states.  The fact that the MPAA has enough clout to make it, near impossible to get a film shown wihtout their rating, doesn't change that fact.

If I wanted to, I could open a theater and show all the unrated films I wanted, that isn't true in some countries.  As we have a global userbase, that is the point I was trying to make.

Edit: @ Danae, Kathy and Alien...thanks for backing me up on this.  In my area, we also have 'Art Houses' that show indi films, as well as foreign language films, that have never been rated by the MPAA.

Quoting Prof. Kingsfield:

Quote:
DC area all the time, my friend. The Senator the lsat time i looked is a defintely a landmark House but i have not seen them show any non-MPAA rated films unless it would be an older film pre-MPAA. The AFI in Silver Spring does this, since that is their objective, but I think even those older films have usually been MPAA rated today. The Uptown in DC never to my knowledge, but there is one in Georgetown or used to be.

Wrong again. I just saw an unrated film at the Senator a few months ago. The rest of your post isn't relevant as I didn't mention those theaters.

FWIW I agree with what Ace's suggestion. The rules say to use the rating on the case. There is a rating on the case. I don't see this as twisting anything or selectively reading anything. I also see it only being a positive thing for the db. It's bad enough we have to deal with things that are truly not rated but in this case we have a rating and should use it.