By Chris Kavan - 08/05/20 at 08:25 PM CT
Once again, the biggest news this week has nothing to do with ratings and everything to do with the way we watch movies - even ones with $200 million plus budgets. That's right, Mulan, Disney's tentpole summer film, is now being released on Disney+ as a "premium" title for $29.99. For a family of four that's probably still less than what they would have dropped in a theater to watch the same movie and yet another move towards streaming big titles at home rather than in theaters. Disney claims this is a "one-off" move - though if things don't improve in the coming months this "one-off" move might become more of a standard operating procedure for studios. Time will tell, my friends, time will tell.
Onto less pressing measure as this week's MPAA Ratings Bulleting is, well, weak. Pretty much any film of note releasing this week is on Netflix - so I'm just going to choose what looks like the most interesting and run with it.
The premise of Hillbilly Elegy, directed by the affable Ron Howard, is simple: a man returns to his hometown where he reflects on his childhood and the Appalachian values instilled in him, along with following three generations of his family. The film is based on the best-selling memoir from J.D. Vance and looks to solidify Netflix in the streaming wars (look below to find more big movies from the streaming giant including a remake of Hitchcock's Rebecca and a films about a 40-Year-Old trying to reinvent themselves as a legitimate rapper). Howard is reliable if somewhat vanilla, but true-life dramas are sure to grab some eyeballs. I mean movies like Bird Box and even The Old Guard are fine, but if Netfilx wants to shine they need more films like Roma and this seems like it's going the more serious route. The film boasts some major star power: Amy Adams, Haley Bennett, Freida Pinto, Glenn Close, Sunny Mabrey, Bo Hopkins and Gabriel Basso. Being a solid Midwest native myself, I'm interested to see how this pans out. Rated R for language throughout, drug
content and some violence.
That's my major coverage for the week but you can check out the full MPAA Ratings Bulletin below:
THE 40-YEAR-OLD-VERSION
Rated R for pervasive language, sexual content, some drug use and brief nudity.
HILLBILLY ELEGY
Rated R for language throughout, drug content and some violence.
JIU JITSU
Rated R for violence throughout.
THE PENTHOUSE
Rated R for language and brief violence.
REBECCA
Rated PG-13 for some sexual content, partial nudity, thematic elements and smoking.
THE SECRETS WE KEEP
Rated R for strong violence, rape, some nudity, language and brief sexuality.
THIS IS THE NIGHT
Rated R for language, some drug use and teen drinking.
TREMORS: SHRIEKER ISLAND
Rated PG-13 for creature violence, language throughout, some gore and suggestive/drug references.
