Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Kids getting into R-rated movies?

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-26-2007, 10:00 PM:

Found this in the Billings Gazette today and thought it might be good to see how this situation is handled around the rest of Film-Tech-dom. All the theatres in Billings are Carmikes.

Q & A
Each week, The Billings Gazette's Tempo page asks area teens for their thoughts on a particular topic.

This week's question: Does "rated-R" mean anything anymore? Do theaters enforce the 17-year-old age requirement? Do your parents mind if you watch rated R movies?

MATT DUPUIS, 16
Skyview High
I don't think that they care as much unless it's a manager or something and then, if it's not a manager, then they don't care and then they give you a ticket anyways. And my parents don't care if I see rated-R movies.

DANA GROB, 16
West High
I go to movies, like, all the time, so rated-R doesn't really bother me. It's something parents and I do. And I buy rated-R movies. Sometimes I buy tickets when I'm going with my friends then they never ask for IDs. It never really bothered me or my parents.

KATIE WILMOUTH, 16
Billings Central Catholic High
No, and I've never been in a situation where the theater has refused to sell us tickets.

JENNY O'BRIEN, 16
Senior High
My parents do mind if I watch rated-R movies because they don't want the sexual content and stuff. But I don't mind like war movies and violence, but I still think it does (mean something). I know people that have gotten into rated-R movies and they're way younger.

Published on Saturday, May 26, 2007.
Last modified on 5/26/2007 at 1:52 am

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Posted by Phil Blake (Member # 2012) on 05-26-2007, 10:37 PM:

a very worthy topic Mike. It is an issue that bugs me. Kids today seem to be trying to get too far ahead of themselves. You give them a choice of say for exstreme example "Charlottes Web" or Saw 3 and they will all go for Saw3. All trying to be over mature , then during the show they find they cannot comprehend the story and or dialog driven show make them bored and the trash the place.

Further more Parents don't seem to be making this any easier for us .
We try to uphold very strict ID check to ensure we are following classification rules at all times. recently I have had 2 mums abuse me because I would not let there 12 year old give into a restricted 18+ film. Her comment ends with well The local video library lets them hire 18+ DVD's , should responsible parent be trying to steer children away from this type of product?

I think the authorities should tighten up as well , even underage drinking in or local hotels is quite staggering.

les than 12 months ago the town suffered the loss of two local lads , they got into a car with a drunk 15 year old who did not have a drivers license , speed of and mach one crashed, the two kids died, the drunk teen driver lived and after a long court case all charges against the drunk underage driver were dropped.

you can appreciate how the parents of the dead kids felt!

Posted by Chad M Calpito (Member # 3736) on 05-26-2007, 11:38 PM:

At my theatre, we strictly enforce the R-Rating Policy. When I work at Guest Services, usually once a week, I strictly enforce it and make No Exceptions when asking for ID's. No ID, No R-Rated movie. If they a person is attending with a parent, then, I have no choice since the parent is going with them. Of course, I have refused parents buying tickets for their underage kids, etc., when the parent won't be going in with them. I explain it to them that it is policy and I won't budge from this policy.

At times, we have Ticket Checkers as well to check tickets and ID's as well during those certain big R-Rated movies. In essence, I am extremely strict and won't bend the rules no matter what.

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 05-27-2007, 12:26 AM:

Here's what I dont get... any kid can walk into Best Buy and buy Saw 3 unrated.... what is the big deal with them seeing something much tamer in the theaters?

Posted by Christopher Meredith (Member # 3767) on 05-27-2007, 12:43 AM:

I check ID if I'm in the box office but I certainly don't police the auditoriums or stand at the door.

My personal feelings aside, working in this industry for the big corporate entity I work for, nothing can be plainer than the fact that our "raison d'etre" is the bottom line. We don't make the movies, we just show them. And as we tell every customer who wants a refund because they didn't like the movie, we're not responsible for the content. Sure, there's stuff young kids shouldn't see. That's what parents are for. If their parents don't care, why should I?

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-27-2007, 12:30 PM:

I find it disturbing that some parents apparently have no problem with their kids watching R-rated movies if the movie just has a bunch of violence in it. The only thing objectionable seems to be exposed female nipples.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 05-27-2007, 01:44 PM:

We enforce the R policy at my theate (as ALL Carmikes are supposed to). Problem is, for every parent thst is glad we stop kids from buying tickets to R-rated movies there's at least one that mad and takes their childs side.

I remember when we opened 'South Park' in 1999. South Park was only a few years old and we realized that some people might not realize it was an adult cartoon so we got in the habbit of warning people who were obviously going to take their young children too it. Many people were glad of the warning, but a few just shrugged and said they knew (no one got mad, we made sure not to be pushy or argue with the customer). I had one guy that, as he brought his 5 year old son into the theatre, "Its okay, we watch it together every Wednesday."

Posted by Paul Trimboli (Member # 1509) on 05-27-2007, 09:56 PM:

In response to Mike Heenan, that is pretty stupid that they can walk into any store and buy the DVD. I guess the point is they should not be able to do that, ratings are in place for a reason. Whats with these irresponsible parents!? It parents like this that make me stand by my opinon that there needs to be a licensing system before people can have children, its should be a serious profession not just something anyone can do. Look at the state of the world and how unfit parents have had children who are now in turn even more unfit to be parents..... where will it end.

Now onto the actual topic, we had a strong policy on ratings where I worked. When I was working for IMAX and we had 35mm showing (can't remember the film) and I was only 16 at the time I was not even allowed to do cinema checks while an 18+ film was screening.

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 05-28-2007, 03:24 AM:

I see noting wrong with kids watching Matrix without their parents. That was an R.

I saw Alien as a 10 year old. A kid is not going to get jaded by the ability to watch an R movie in a theater. If he or she is going to sneak in without parents knowledge,then there are far worse things the kid is capable of.

What a parent might want to worry about is the constant PG-13, light R jokey stuff that goes on prime time TV or the constant trash on daytime TV that kids get exposed to on a daily basis making them jaded to crass stuff.

Posted by R. Andrew Diercks (Member # 1725) on 05-28-2007, 12:33 PM:

I enforced a strict R rated policy when I managed. I did not let employees under 17 screen prints without speaking to their parents about it. Just to CYA, its a good idea. I personally let my kids see things many parents would be appalled about but I am there to answer questions. I stand by the parents right to decide. I only let parents bring their own child to R rated films too, not 15 other kids for the slumber party. How do they know the other parents approve, that lack of care for other parents beliefs drives me crazy. Not a lot different than the "cool" parents that host beer parties at there house for high school kids. They should be locked up.

Posted by Joel N. Weber II (Member # 3530) on 05-28-2007, 01:40 PM:

I seem to recall hearing a long time ago that the norms for this sort of thing vary from one country to another; for example, I think I have heard that in Germany nobody thinks it's a problem for a 15 year old to consume beer or see a sexually explicit movie, and that Germany's rating system is more likely to consider violence a problem for younger views than sexuality.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 05-28-2007, 09:49 PM:

This is part of the moral breakdown of modern society.

Nowadays what's on TV should be rated "R" - instead they give it a TV-14 or a MA rating (same thing!)

We'll soon be seeing reality TV with people killing each other.

Soon after that will follow the fall of the Roman Empire....

The decline of the western civilization, part one.....

[Razz]

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 05-29-2007, 12:57 AM:

Can you really buy an R-rated DVD at say age ten without any restrictions? I disagree with our legislation which created video censorship (a reaction to a right-wing moral panic in the 80's) but since it is so easy to take scenes out of context using the functions on a DVD/VCR there has to be a line where retailers don't let kids buy certain material without parental permission.

Posted by Phil Blake (Member # 2012) on 05-29-2007, 01:53 AM:

I am not sure of the rules in other country's , but here we also have rating on music ,underage kids seem to be able to buy restricted music and DVDs without any problems ans as I said earlier the video library's don't care what the rent to who.

Posted by Gracia L. Babbidge (Member # 582) on 05-29-2007, 12:24 PM:

At the multiplexes at which I used to work - the policy on 'R' rated films was stricly enforced - particularly in the wake of the Columbine shootings. No parental accompaniment / no ID = no entry, no exceptions. Was that popular with the teens? Not at all. Did they often buy tickets for films that weren't rated 'R' in the hopes that they could sneak into the auditorium playing the film they really wanted to see? Of course. Did we do head counts & eject the little imps? Yes, and got called lots of charming names in the process.
There were some disgruntled parents that insisted we must only be trying to increase our ticket sales when we insisted that they accompany their kids to the 'R' rated films. [Roll Eyes]

Currently, I'm at a single screen indie cinema. A great number of the titles we run are of little interest to middle / high school aged kids. So, the 'R' policy is far less of an issue for us. We've bent the rules on occasions, but it is rarely something we're in a position to decide to do.

Posted by Joel N. Weber II (Member # 3530) on 05-29-2007, 12:31 PM:

When I was ten, I don't think I had easy access to enough money to buy R rated movies, nor opportunities to go shopping unsupervised to buy R arted movies. I think parents keeping track of where their children are has the potential to be more effective than businesses enforcing these things.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-29-2007, 01:21 PM:

My personal opinion is that the 17 age requirement is too old. It should be 15. Kids are allowed to drive at 15, so if they can show a license, they should be able to get into an R movie. Most parents of 15 and 16 year olds will allow their kids into the R's anyway.

Or another good cutoff would be "high school." Show your high-school ID card, get into the movie. That would still place the cutoff age at around 15 and that way a whole class of kids would become "eligible" at the same time. This doesn't work for home-schooled kids I guess, but then the driver's license idea would be a fallback plan. School ID or driver's license.

Posted by Joel N. Weber II (Member # 3530) on 05-29-2007, 08:25 PM:

There are plenty of valid reasons why someone who's old enough to get a driver's license might not have one: I don't think I bothered to get a license until I was about 17.5 years old. Some people have medical conditions that prevent driving.

I imagine the parent of a home-schooled highschooler could talk to theater management to work things out, though.

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 05-29-2007, 08:36 PM:

When I was a senior in high school, we watched The Godfather, Lady Sings The Blues and The Wild Bunch in Film Analysis class. All these titles are rated R. No one mentioned that some of the students were not yet 17...we just all kept our mouths shut and watched the films. It was in a class room, and the same rules about behavior in class applied here.
The only drawback to 15 and 16 year olds are that some of these kids cannot behave in a theatre auditorium with their friends in a PG or 13 rated film, and the adults who view the R's do not welcome the distraction.
On the other hand, if the minor is well behaved...then Mike's idea would work well.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-29-2007, 09:32 PM:

Thing is, these 15 and 16 year olds are getting in anyway, so if we could let them in with the MPAA's blessing we'd save ourselves a lot of hassle and complaints.

If the MPAA can keep changing the "rules" of the ratings (i.e. one use of "fuck" used to get an R, now you can have two or three "fucks" and still get a PG-13), then they should be able to change the age limits with no problem. I'd write to Valenti about this if he wasn't dead.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 05-29-2007, 11:59 PM:

The problem is the half of parents who do care are more vocal than the half that don't and if the MPAA was to make its rating system more lax there would be another congressional push for a federalized rating system and I don't think ANY of us want that.

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 05-30-2007, 07:00 PM:

If you watched an 'R' in class then you'd be with your teacher who is presumably in loco parentis, so technically no-one has been naughty.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-30-2007, 10:04 PM:

You guys can rag all you want to about the R rating crap and kids sneaking in but I bet that most of you baby boomers here snuck into the X rated Drive Inn many times like my buddies and I did circa 1970 or so.

Mark
Noye: Special Spelling of Drive Inn is for Tim Reed [Razz]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-30-2007, 10:28 PM:

I think when I was a kid, the "M" rating was still in force. We could get parental blessing to go to the occasional "M" movie, but R's were completely off limits. I went to work at the Roxy in the fall of '75 so I probably ran quite a few R films before I actually sat down to watch one.

Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 05-30-2007, 11:07 PM:

At the last house I managed, where I also booked the films, I had no problem with kids getting into R rated films - I didn't book them. At the corporate house where I now work anyone who looks under the age of 28 is asked for picture ID at the boxoffice and at the podium. Do those under 17 still get in? Probably. But while I come from the school where exhibitors felt a responsibility not to show some of the garbage that's being produced today I object to parents shoving their responsibility for guarding their children off onto us.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 05-31-2007, 04:12 AM:

I can remember when I was a teenager. I had to go through a lot to sneak into a "R" film. In keeping with that tradition - I feel it is my civic duty to make sure the teenagers today have to go through the same amount of hassle too. It makes for good stories later in life......

But seriously - I have always (for the past 18 years) enforced the "R" rating. The ratings are there for a reason....

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 06-03-2007, 01:09 PM:

I actually have no problems with a ratings system. If anything, I wish there was a more detailed ratings system so that filmmakers wont have to quibble between a pg-13 and an R. Have like an R-14, R-15, R-16, R-17, etc. This way, when a movie gets rated, it wouldnt matter if the ratings board assigned a slightly stricter rating. Ratings have more room for error and the advisory nature of the rating gets emphasized.

But I am against teens being barred from watching an R movie. If a parent allows their kids to go to the movies unsupervised, there is a lot more the kids can get away with than watching an R movie. Allowing some unsupervised kid to watch Matrix is not the end of the world.

Posted by Thomas Pitt (Member # 4322) on 06-09-2007, 05:34 PM:

In this country, the film ratings are actually easier to understand, I believe [Wink]

We have:
U (Universal, equivalent to General Audience)
PG (Parental Guidance)
12A (Nobody under 12 admitted unless accompanied by an adult)

After that there are three age ratings - 12, 15, and 18. This means that nobody under that age should be allowed to see a movie of that rating. It's rumored that there's going to be a 21 rating introduced in the near future, but there's no confirmation of that yet.

Getting back to the topic, the cinemas I've seen usually seem to run on a skeleton crew. There's usually one usher on the front gate to check your ticket and tell you what screen to go to. Sometimes there's another person working the concession stand, who is also selling tickets; there's nobody waiting outside each door. A kid could easily buy a ticket for something rated U, and there's nothing to stop them going into one of the other screens where an age-rated movie is showing!

Having said that though, up until age 16 children are supposed to be in school every weekday. Most likely if they looked under 16, the usher would stop them getting in and ask why they weren't in school [Razz]

I assume that in the evenings and on weekends, the cinemas have many more staff there to cope with the high number of visitors. In that case, there's less chance that a kid could get into an age-rated movie.

Posted by Kara Tillotson (Member # 3899) on 06-09-2007, 08:57 PM:

what does an R rated movie mean legally and all?

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 06-09-2007, 10:19 PM:

In the US, Kara, it means nothing at all. Ratings are completely voluntary. (OK, I hear that a small number of localities might've written them into law, but those are extremely rare).

--jhawk

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 06-10-2007, 02:49 AM:

quote: Pravin Ratnam
Have like an R-14, R-15, R-16, R-17, etc.

Except that I have no way to verify that a kid really is 14. I've never heard of anyone having a form of ID at that age.

Also, I think having this many ratings is simply ridiculous. Seriously, what would define R-14 as opposed to R-15?

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 06-10-2007, 03:12 AM:

Had a couple bring their 4 year old to Hostel 2 the other night. Maybe there should be a legally binding rating system [Frown]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-10-2007, 12:34 PM:

There are times when it would be nice if the rating system was really a "law." I mean, it's great for the bars -- it eliminates all guesswork....sorry, you can't have a drink, we could lose our license.

It'd be great for a small theater like mine where it's easy to police the whole place. The real problem would come for the multiplexes where kids would sneak into the wrong movie, then the outraged "parents" would sue the theatre chain for morally corrupting their precious offspring by not babysitting them properly.

Posted by Kamil Jackson-Chaka (Member # 4316) on 06-10-2007, 02:56 PM:

If part of that law would be funding to pay for staff to stand outside of those auditoriums checking IDs I'd say it's a good idea. But there's no way that'd be cost effective for larger theater's otherwise .

This weekend we stuck our Hostel 2 prints in a side hallway with Bug and had someone checking IDs, but we can't do that with bigger movies. I'm sure on Monday we won't be able to keep that close and eye on them either. Point being, we enforce the age limit at the box office, but once kids are inside, if they're not completely obvious, they can watch anything they want.

I'm not a babysitter, and if a parent wants to complain that I corrupted their kid, good luck.

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 06-10-2007, 03:23 PM:

One scene in Hostel 2 made me wonder if the movie shouldn't have been NC-17...but I'm likely overreacting to the dismemberment toward the end of the movie. (One of the doggies liked it...) [uhoh]

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 06-10-2007, 04:15 PM:

Yeah, I know a law would be impractical. We try our best two but with 12 screens on two hallways (and two lobbies) its pretty hard.

Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 06-10-2007, 11:42 PM:

I seem to remember Tennessee having such a law for "R" rated films. At least this what I was told when I worked for Regal.

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 06-11-2007, 07:50 AM:

quote:
A kid could easily buy a ticket for something rated U, and there's nothing to stop them going into one of the other screens where an age-rated movie is showing!

Staff should be checking screens every 30 minutes and it isn't difficult to spot a kid even in a dark screen.

We had some customers trying to take a baby (under 18months) into a '15' rated film. When confronted they said they would just leave the baby in the buggy outside the screen. Poor kid probably has no chance with parents like that.

Posted by Luci Reeve (Member # 3651) on 06-25-2007, 12:32 PM:

We won't sell a ticket to anyone who says he is under 17 unless he brings a note from a parent saying they permit him to see the R movie. We used to just call the parent but ONE mom complained so we started asking for the permission slip. Then what do you think happened? The kid came to the next movie with a permission slip! It's a small town, we know the kids and their parents, if they behave we don't hassle them too much.

What got me last week was an anonomous phone call (female) saying something like " We were in the movie last night and there were alot of unattended kids and we don't think it's right that you let kids into an R movie." It was "The Namesake"! PG-13. A great teen movie and she was there watching it (supposedly) and she still made that anonomous call! What a loser! (The kids were all in a group but a mom was with them.)

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-25-2007, 01:49 PM:

We don't take phone calls OR permission slips. (Anybody can write a slip, and anybody can make a phone call.) The parents have to walk up to the ticket window and tell us it's OK for their kid to see the movie. Some parents think that's a hassle, but we don't really have any trouble with it. Personally I wish they'd lower the "R" age to 15 so most kids in high school could attend.

Posted by Brad Allen (Member # 470) on 06-25-2007, 02:05 PM:

20 years ago, I'd get beat up (verbally) by parents over the occasional kid that would sneak into an R film. Now I get beat up because I won't let them in. Most parents don't care.

Then they wonder why little Johnny is having night terrors and can't sleep at night.

I once had a women chastise me for "allowing" her precious son in to an R rated film.......while she was standing checking out an R rated video rental.....for the same son. He was standing next to her and he's the one that picked it off the shelf. [Eek!]

And of course I had to ask, what's the difference?

Posted by Matt Fields (Member # 3211) on 06-25-2007, 02:18 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
Personally I wish they'd lower the "R" age to 15 so most kids in high school could attend.

I wish they would quit making R-rated movies aimed at 15 year olds!

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 06-26-2007, 10:40 AM:

quote: Dustin Mitchell
Had a couple bring their 4 year old to Hostel 2 the other night. Maybe there should be a legally binding rating system

Better yet, maybe there should be legally binding system that requires parents to attend 50 hours of parental training before they are allowed to procreate. How about the parents who bring a 4 yr old to HOSTLE 2 need to be dragged into court and fined for child endangerment or something. How about for GPS (Gross Parental Stupidity)?!