Obviously the absolute best way to make a movie great is to censor the hell out of it to bring it a new notches down on the content classification scale.
That’s exactly what Sony is playing with right now – a home entertainment initiative where the company will offer ‘clean’ versions of a bunch of their movies when customers go to buy them via digital services like iTunes. Essentially, they’re the cut versions they show on airplanes so the person sitting behind you doesn’t cop an eyeful of whatever depraved sex scene you’re currently enjoying.
It’s launching with a lineup of 24 films, including Big Daddy, 50 First Dates, Step Brothers, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and all of the Spider-Man movies.
“The Clean Version allows viewing for a wider audience, giving people the chance to watch their favorite films together,” Sony’s home entertainment group said in the announcement. “Films of all ratings can be adapted as Clean Versions; however, the extent of such adaptation can vary.”
Not everyone’s pleased, though. Seth Rogen – known for having reasonably rude movies – took to Twitter to criticise the effort.
Holy shit please don’t do this to our movies. Thanks. https://t.co/0lpoESaIQd
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) June 6, 2017
Rogen’s last movie at Sony was the R-rated film Sausage Party. As you might imagine, if you slashed all the rude content out of that movie, you’d probably be left with the credits and maybe the title. Probably not worth the full iTunes price, imo.
Moviemakers tend to be pretty wary of people butchering their flicks for commercial reasons. We’ll see if anyone else speaks out.
This is such bullshit. Who even gets to determine what’s “clean” enough to stay in this stupid version of the movie? https://t.co/1QvVpmlalh
— Ethan Anderton (@Ethan_Anderton) June 6, 2017
Source: Hollywood Reporter.
Photo: Getty Images.
