movies/tv Why do some theaters unfairly treat certain G and PG movies like NC-17 and unrated ones?

[FirePuppy 626]

Usually, a majority of movies that get rejected from playing in theaters are either rated NC-17 or Unrated.

But often times, most of these same theaters have unfairly (and wrongfully) banned family movies as well. For example, the My Little Pony Movie was only accepted in roughly 2,500 theaters out of more than 4,000.

Why would theaters do such an insane thing like this?

[Will Guide 21,325]

You know, some guy made an editorial that talks about the Movie Rating System. Perhaps it might give you some insight.

 

[Concerned Bystander 2,901]

Any given cinema only has a limited capacity to screen films and none are under obligation to show any particular film.  I would hazard a guess that these films were not banned by the cinema but were simply rejected on the grounds that the cinema didn't consider they would make enough money from it to cover the cost of screening, or at least chose to instead hold more screenings of films that would make them a bigger profit.

[Fhaolan 4,468]

Having worked in an independent theatre in a small town (and due to that being one of only three employees of the theatre, the other two being the theatre owner herself and the projectionist) when I was a kid, I got to see some of the behind the scenes jiggery-pokery of the industry. Remember this was almost forty years ago, so the mechanisms will likely have changed.

Back then, the theatres only had some say in what movies they got. It was a negotiation between the theatre and the distribution companies. You got to pick from the films the distribution company decided were valid for your size of theatre/geographical area. The theatre's contribution to the decision process was based on their knowledge of the local potential audience, but they had to choose from the already limited list provided by the distribution companies, and often you had to have an somewhat exclusive deal with one major distribution company who would only allow you to pick up additional stuff from minor distributors that they didn't view as rivals. You talk to an actual rival distribution company, and you get cut off unless the rival is willing to immediately provide from *their* curated list of films which was unlikely. Which is why most theatres converted to being part of chains like AMC or Ciniplex, simply to have more negotiation power with the distributors. Mind you that also meant abrogating your negotiation rights to the chain's head office, so as a theatre you didn't really gain much from it beyond the security of knowing that you won't simply get dropped from all distributors and be forced to project from your personal collection.

The distribution companies get paid twice for each film. Distribution of any media (films, comics, etc.) is a sweet gig if you can get in on it. They get a percentage of their estimate of the boxoffice from the theatres themselves for the service of providing the film to the theatre, plus what the production company paid them to put the film in their catalog. 

So to answer the original question's specific example, the My Little Pony Movie was only presented in a limited number of theatres because the distribution company decided to only share that movie with a limited number of theatres and picked 'representative' theatres in specific geographic areas to provide the movie to in an attempt to maximize their take of the boxoffice. The theatres themselves often don't believe they have much of a choice in the matter.

[ShadOBabe 18,984]

Just because a theater didn’t show it, doesn’t mean it was “banned”.

Besides what Fhaolan pointed out about the fact that Hasbro could pick what theaters they wanted it to show it in, they do that because they have to PAY to feature films in theaters. If they know the movie is only going to have a niche audience, why would they pay to have it in every theater in the US?

[FirePuppy 626]

I still think it's quite brutal for a theater to allow even hardcore adult movies and refuse a film designed for family audiences at the same time. Sausage Party, for example, was approved by more than 3,000 American theaters, unlike My Little Pony. More yet, the disgustingly adult Sausage Party grossed like, 4 1/2 times more money than the family-friendly My Little Pony did! But the US wasn't the only country to do this.

In the UK, SP grossed more than twice than MLP ($10 million to $5 million) despite being rated "15" there; Australia, a whopping 7 times more, despite its MA15+ rating; Germany, about 1.6 times, even with an FSK 16; Italy, at least 4.4 times; Spain, almost 16 TIMES!

Worse yet, My Little Pony made $0 in two countries -- South Korea and Japan! Not only that, according to Box Office Mojo, Japan is the only country where Sausage Party grossed some money (at least $700,000) but My Little Pony made $0 there after 5 months. By the way, Sausage Party is rated R15+ in Japan.

In some countries, however, MLP did manage to gross more money than Sausage Party, but out of all those countries, only the People's Republic of China (also the only country where the movie is distributed by a company other than Lionsgate) made a lot of money for the film.

 

I got to admit, life can be so unfair, where in some theaters, filthy adult animated movies are allowed but movies perfect for family audiences are not.

Edited March 4, 2018 by FirePuppy

[Denim&Venöm 16,503]

 

19 hours ago, FirePuppy said:

I got to admit, life can be so unfair, where in some theaters, filthy adult animated movies are allowed but movies perfect for family audiences are not.

Probably because adults have the disposable income to see such films, while kids do not. Target the demographic that has the money and the means to see such films any day of the week, instead of the one that has to drag their uninterested parents along on the weekend. 

[FirePuppy 626]

Now I get it. If a movie is unreleased because of extremely vulgar content, something totally controversial or harmful, or a country's certain law, it would most likely be banned, which would actually be a reason why it is unreleased. But if none of the above applies, then it's just unreleased.

Then again... there's also piracy. When people are engaged in attempts to try to see the films by illegally downloading them when they're not available in their country (even ones that are officially banned), this convinces me that I still think those movies are exactly in the same state as if they are banned, even though they really aren't.

So to sum it all up, maybe the movies are actually indeed banned, simply due to copyright, but that's all I know.

Edited March 5, 2018 by FirePuppy

[Libra 11,690]

10 minutes ago, FirePuppy said:

Now I get it. If a movie is unreleased because of extremely vulgar content, something totally controversial or harmful, or a country's certain law, it would most likely be banned, which would actually be a reason why it is unreleased. But if none of the above applies, then it's just unreleased.

Then again... there's also piracy. When people are engaged in attempts to try to see the films by illegally downloading them when they're not available in their country (even ones that are officially banned), this convinces me that I still think those movies are exactly in the same state as if they are banned, even though they really aren't.

So to sum it all up, maybe the movies are actually indeed banned, simply due to copyright, but that's all I know.

Fire, i have scoured far and wide. There is ZERO evidence the mlp movie was banned in south korea. I dont know why you keep stating this, but its not banned.

[FirePuppy 626]

6 minutes ago, Sylveon said:

Fire, i have scoured far and wide. There is ZERO evidence the mlp movie was banned in south korea. I dont know why you keep stating this, but its not banned.

I didn't say that! All I said was they made $0.

Even I know it isn't banned there anymore, they recently gave the film a "general audience" rating but still has yet to release it. So please don't start that again.

Moreover, I wasn't talking about the MLP Movie, I was talking about ALL movies worldwide with limited releases.

Edited March 5, 2018 by FirePuppy

[Libra 11,690]

2 minutes ago, FirePuppy said:

I didn't say that! All I said was they made $0.

Even I know it isn't banned there anymore, they recently gave the film a "general audience" rating but still has yet to release it. So please don't start that again.

Maybe because hasbro has yet to release it? I mean, since a crap ton of their stuff got leaked, they could be very hesitant to release it.

[FirePuppy 626]

On 3/5/2018 at 9:48 AM, Sylveon said:

Maybe because hasbro has yet to release it? I mean, since a crap ton of their stuff got leaked, they could be very hesitant to release it.

Yeah, Hasbro still has yet to release it. It's been already 5 months and still not every country has released the film.

Both Japan and South Korea have approved Sausage Party (for adults, that is, due to adult content), and moreover, Japan is very lenient on classifying movies, and South Korea gave My Little Pony: The Movie an "all ages" rating. Despite that, there still hasn't been any word about My Little Pony: The Movie's release in those two countries as of today. I promise I'll stop saying it's banned, since I clearly know it isn't.

Edited March 9, 2018 by FirePuppy

[Guest]

Did it ever occur to you that perhaps theaters didn't pick up the movie because they didn't think it would sell?

[FirePuppy 626]

37 minutes ago, Key Sharkz said:

Did it ever occur to you that perhaps theaters didn't pick up the movie because they didn't think it would sell?

Well, whenever there's a situation like that, at least they can still release it on Netflix and/or directly on Blu-ray and DVD.

[Libra 11,690]

5 hours ago, FirePuppy said:

Yeah, Hasbro still has yet to release it. It's been already 5 months and still not every country has released the film.

Both Japan and South Korea have approved Sausage Party (for adults, that is, due to adult content), and moreover, Japan is very lenient on classifying movies, and South Korea gave My Little Pony: The Movie an "all ages" rating. Despite that, there still hasn't been any word about My Little Pony: The Movie's release in those two countries as of today. I promise I'll stop saying it's banned, since I clearly know it isn't.

Possibly movie delays. I mean, after hasbro faced movie leaks, i dont blame them for being hesitant.

although, it could be because of different schedules.

[The_Gobo 36,257]

Is it really a major complaint that one specific movie didn't get accepted into a little under half the movie theaters in one country?
O_o

 

[cuteycindyhoney 13,283]

On 3/3/2018 at 7:07 PM, FirePuppy said:

I still think it's quite brutal for a theater to allow even hardcore adult movies and refuse a film designed for family audiences at the same time. Sausage Party, for example, was approved by more than 3,000 American theaters, unlike My Little Pony. More yet, the disgustingly adult Sausage Party grossed like, 4 1/2 times more money than the family-friendly My Little Pony did! But the US wasn't the only country to do this.

First, a movie like "Sausage Party" (Which was stupid. Yes, I downloaded it!) will draw in the older teen/frat boy crowd. Secondly, it wasn't that theaters refused to show MLP the Movie. The distributors only placed MLP The Movie in a limited amount of theaters. They didn't think it would make much money. The real returns will be in the DVD/Blu Ray/Streaming sales world wide.

[FirePuppy 626]

On 3/9/2018 at 12:35 PM, cuteycindyhoney said:

First, a movie like "Sausage Party" (Which was stupid. Yes, I downloaded it!) will draw in the older teen/frat boy crowd. Secondly, it wasn't that theaters refused to show MLP the Movie. The distributors only placed MLP The Movie in a limited amount of theaters. They didn't think it would make much money. The real returns will be in the DVD/Blu Ray/Streaming sales world wide.

Just like all those NC-17 rated movies, that are not even allowed wide advertisement. They also don't make much money themselves for their respective companies. By the way, the worldwide box office for MLP: The Movie has now ended.

Edited March 13, 2018 by FirePuppy

[Megas 27,063]

On 2/16/2018 at 7:16 AM, FirePuppy said:

Why would theaters do such an insane thing like this?

Money