The King's Speech Re-Rated PG 13: What's the Point?

I must confess, I have yet to see this year's Best Picture winner The King's Speech. During Oscar season, I bet the farm on The Social Network. I would have been satisfied with Black Swan, too. I just had little interest in The King's Speech. And after the awards, I made a decision to prove myself wrong, and check it out on DVD when it arrived.

I haven't changed my mind about that, but I am a bit puzzled by the recent re-cut of the film. It was originally rated R, for what I understand to be the prolific use of the f-word, and the new cut of the film is rated PG-13, and exists as such sans four letter expletives.

My question is: why?





I don't need to have seen the film to know that it is a biographical period piece about King George VI. Frankly, I don't think it's presumptuous of me to assume that the target demographic for a film like this is old enough to get into an R-rated feature without much trouble. A PG-13 rating isn't going to make the film any more appealing to the 13 to 18 year old demographic.

Furthermore, the film is already, in no uncertain terms, a financial success. The film has made over $135 million domestically, and totals over $370 million worldwide. How much more money could the film possibly make from this change?

For all accounts, the change seems to be for the worse. When asked about the re-edit, the film's Oscar winning star, Colin Firth, made it clear that he doesn't support the re-edit, noting that the profanity "serves a purpose." The R-rating itself, it seems, was already thought to be unnecessary.

Left: Original good poster; Right: New cheesy poster

To be honest, these sound like they make a good film worse. And the new poster only makes me want to see the film less. In any case, I will be checking out The King's Speech on DVD, in it's original R-rated version.