By Chris Kavan - 07/29/20 at 11:40 AM CT
Let us have a moment of silence for the summer movie season. It was always going to be a long shot in the current environment, but now that Tenet and Mulan have been shelved indefinitely - and pretty much every other film followed - and I'm not confident that fall is going to be any better. In fact, I'm pretty much betting on not getting back into a movie theater until sometime next year - provided the chains can survive that long. It's a bleak outlook, but it's also, sadly, all too realistic at this point.
But we move forward and the MPAA Ratings Board is still forging ahead. The one, big film today that is receiving its ratings due is Soul. The animated hit is still scheduled, at least for now, for a 2020 release. It's still a long shot, but it will certainly be appreciated if it makes it.
With Soul Pixar is once again combining music and animation - a combination it found great success with in Coco. In this case, Joe (Jamie Foxx) is a musician who has lost his passion - and things don't get any better when he finds himself as a soul without a body. But after running into an infant soul (Tina Fey) still learning about life, he finds a new passion even as he works tirelessly to return to his body. The supporting cast looks amazing: Angela Bassett, Daveed Diggs (a standout from Hamilton if I do say so myself), Quest Love, Phylicia Rashad and Richard Ayoade are all on board. With Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross helping in the music department and Pixar veteran Pete Doctor (Monsters, Inc., Up, Inside Out) directing - this looks to be another home run from the studio - you know, provided it can eventually play in theaters. While Onward was a bit of a bust (not that circumstances helped it out any), Soul looks like a more traditional Pixar film. Not afraid to take things in a new direction, big names attached and lots of, well, soul. Hopefully it gets the attention it deserves - even if it has to be delayed a bit more. Rated PG for thematic elements and some language.
There are a lot more films below - even many that would be considered wide releases (if they had release dates at this point), so make sure to check out the full MPAA Ratings Bulletin below:
ALL IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY
Rated PG-13 for some disturbing violent images, thematic material and strong language - all involving racism.
THE HUMAN FACTOR
Rated PG-13 for some violence/bloody images.
MARRY ME
Rated PG-13 for brief strong language and some suggestive material.
MIC DROP: THE CULTURE OF CHRISTIAN HIP-HOP
Rated PG-13 for brief strong language and some drug material.
MURDER IN THE WOODS
Rated R for horror violence, language, drug and alcohol use, and some sexuality.
THE NEST
Rated R for language throughout, some sexuality, nudity and teen partying.
THE SOCIAL DILEMMA
Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements, disturbing/violent images and suggestive material.
SOUL
Rated PG for thematic elements and some language.
SPONTANEOUS
Rated R for teen drug and alcohol use, language and bloody images throughout.
UNPREGNANT
Rated PG-13 for mature thematic content, sexual content, strong language and some drug references.
THE VIGIL
Rated PG-13 for terror, some disturbing/violent images, thematic elements and brief strong language.
THE WHITE TIGER
Rated R for language, violence and sexual material.
THE WITCHES
Rated PG for scary images/moments, language and thematic elements.
