MPA News

Military Wives is a 2019 UK comedy drama by Peter Cattaneo.
Starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Sharon Horgan and Emma Lowndes.

Inspired by global phenomenon of military wives choirs, the story celebrates a band of misfit women who form a choir on a military base. As unexpected bonds of friendship flourish, music and laughter transform their lives, helping each other to overcome their fears for loved ones in combat.

In the US the film was originally rated R by the MPAA for brief language and a sexual reference.

The distributors appealed hoping for a PG-13 rating, but did not win their case. Instead they edited  the film to achieve an MPAA PG-13 rating for some strong language and sexual references.

For comparison the BBFC gave the film a 12A rating for infrequent strong language, moderate sex references.

Scooby-Doo is a 2002 USA / Australia comedy mystery adventure by Raja Gosnell.
Starring Matthew Lillard, Freddie Prinze Jr and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

The Mystery Inc. gang have gone their separate ways and have been apart for two years, until they each receive an invitation to Spooky Island. Not knowing that the others have also been invited, they show up and discover an amusement park that affects young visitors in very strange ways. Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby soon realize that they cannot solve this mystery without help from each other.

Screenwriter James Gunn has confirmed that a lesbian kiss was filmed but was cut from the final edit. He also commented on a submission that was indeed MPAA R rated. See article from screenrant.com :

Gunn answered a fan's question on Twitter about an eventual release of the R-rated Scooby-Doo , and shed some light on how the whole rating fiasco went down. Gunn confirms that the film was originally rated R by the MPAA, but that he never set out to write an adult movie. Apparently, the harsh rating was because of one stupid joke the MPAA misinterpreted. The film eventually earned a PG-13 from the ratings board, but by then a successful test screening skewed the film's target demo to a younger audience. This led to a third PR rated cut of the film removing material such as language, cleavage, and sexual situations - including a same-sex kiss between Daphne and Velma. Gunn tweeted:

Yes, the first MPAA rating was R, but it was only because of one stupid joke the MPAA misinterpreted.

The movie was originally meant to be PG-13 & was cut down to PG after like 3 parents were outraged at a test screening in Sacramento. The studio decided to go a more family friendly route.

Language and jokes and sexual situations were removed, including a kiss between Daphne and Velma. Cleavage was CGI'd over. But, thankfully, the farting remained.

I thought at the time the rating change was a mistake. I felt like a lot of teens came out for the first film and didn't get what they wanted (and didn't come back for the sequel). But today I don't know. So many young kids loved those movies, which is pretty cool.

Also, for the record I doubt any of those old cuts still exist.

Military Wives is a 2019 UK comedy drama by Peter Cattaneo.
Starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Sharon Horgan and Emma Lowndes.

Inspired by global phenomenon of military wives choirs, the story celebrates a band of misfit women who form a choir on a military base. As unexpected bonds of friendship flourish, music and laughter transform their lives, helping each other to overcome their fears for loved ones in combat.

In the US the film was rated R by the MPAA for brief language and a sexual reference.

The distributors are now appealing the decision presumably hoping for a PG-13 rating.

For comparison the BBFC gave the film a 12A rating for infrequent strong language, moderate sex references.