Remembered when they marketed R-rated movies to kids?

[AnakinFlair]

Let's take a look at the actual details here...

- The Terminator

... The T-800 murders at least two people in the night club.
... The T-800 murders in between ten and twenty people in the police station.
... The T-800 has nothing but "Adult" responses to the knock on the door.
... Fairly graphic scene of John being conceived.
... I believe the T-800 murders Sarah's mother.

- T2

... The T-1000 only murders one guy that happens to stay in the line of fire in the hallway in the mall.
... The T-1000 leaves folks in the Mental Hospital alive to focus on killing Sarah/John.
... John teaches the T-800 to give people the business with a minimum of swearing.
... John is giving the T-800 orders. Cannot be stressed enough.
... The switch gives the SWAT team a chance to get out of Cyberdyne alive.

Trying to ignore all of that to create a scenario where T2 is a comparable "R" compared to The Terminator makes almost zero sense.

Were only 2 people killed in that club scene? I remember a lot of people getting caught in the crossfire.

[numberthirty]

Were only 2 people killed in that club scene? I remember a lot of people getting caught in the crossfire.

True.

That said, there are only a few(two for sure in my memory) that are probably going to die without immediate medical attention. One near the bar, and another woman who is shot standing near Sarah once folks start making a run for it.

[TomServofan]

How do you feel about the Rambo movies even having kids merchandise back in 1985?

[Killerbee911]

This topic is so silly, They didn't target rated R movie at kids there was never an intent to have kids watch violent or graphic movies. They did for some reason turn graphic franchise into kid content. For example they made Rambo into a cartoon in 1986. Saying they are trying attract kids to R content was wrong, Saying they weirdly turned R rated franchises into kid content(more like teenage boy content) ,yes that happened. There is a big difference between those things unless you had parents who didn't care you weren't going to see R content,You couldn't rent videos and you couldn't get in R movie in theaters. And this wasn't the era of the internet so unless you had HBO and once again your parents where doing again suspect job of letting you see content you shouldn't you weren't coming across R content.

You either saw the heavy edit version of movies when they finally reach on network tv or you saw kid content related content like video games, cartoons and comics. So once again R movies weren't targeted at kids but yeah some R rated franchise did make stuff targeted at kids. This is no different than Deadpool today for example and it happens less to today because companies clearly realize that PG 13 can be violent as hell but kids( teenage boys) can still watch it. They make more money in theaters and they don't have deal with question about why are turning violent movie about PTSD into kids cartoon and yes that happen back then

On the minor topic of T-2 that movie would have probably been PG 13 today,They would have cut back on the swearing/cursing and Most of violence is cutaway style or you don't see the damage. The original terminator was a little more darker ,The self repair scene where he takes out his eye and sex scene,plus general killing in the movie it earns the R.

[numberthirty]

This topic is so silly, They didn't target rated R movie at kids there was never an intent to have kids watch violent or graphic movies. They did for some reason turn graphic franchise into kid content. For example they made Rambo into a cartoon in 1986. Saying they are trying attract kids to R content was wrong, Saying they weirdly turned R rated franchises into kid content(more like teenage boy content) ,yes that happened. There is a big difference between those things unless you had parents who didn't care you weren't going to see R content,You couldn't rent videos and you couldn't get in R movie in theaters. And this wasn't the era of the internet so unless you had HBO and once again your parents where doing again suspect job of letting you see content you shouldn't you weren't coming across R content.

You either saw the heavy edit version of movies when they finally reach on network tv or you saw kid content related content like video games, cartoons and comics. So once again R movies weren't targeted at kids but yeah some R rated franchise did make stuff targeted at kids. This is no different than Deadpool today for example and it happens less to today because companies clearly realize that PG 13 can be violent as hell but kids( teenage boys) can still watch it. They make more money in theaters and they don't have deal with question about why are turning violent movie about PTSD into kids cartoon and yes that happen back then

On the minor topic of T-2 that movie would have probably been PG 13 today,They would have cut back on the swearing/cursing and Most of violence is cutaway style or you don't see the damage. The original terminator was a little more darker ,The self repair scene where he takes out his eye and sex scene,plus general killing in the movie it earns the R.

The real problem here is trying to frame it as "Weirdly".

If you were alive and old enough to have even a cursory look at the bigger picture back then, you would be able to tell folks that things were completely different back then.

There was an entire money making system that the owners of IP would have to have been idiots not to try to be a part of. Nothing about that they made a perfectly sensible call about trying to maximize the amount of money that their IP made means that they were marketing to children.

They just were not leaving money on the table.

While the two possibilities might look somewhat alike from a distance, that doesn't mean that they are the same once you've taken a close up look.

[Killerbee911]

The real problem here is trying to frame it as "Weirdly".

If you were alive and old enough to have even a cursory look at the bigger picture back then, you would be able to tell folks that things were completely different back then.

There was an entire money making system that the owners of IP would have to have been idiots not to try to be a part of. Nothing about that they made a perfectly sensible call about trying to maximize the amount of money that their IP made means that they were marketing to children.

They just were not leaving money on the table.

While the two possibilities might look somewhat alike from a distance, that doesn't mean that they are the same once you've taken a close up look.

You are right businesswise is not weird,especially since it was way harder for kids to get their hands on on adult version of content back then. But yeah even understanding that they weren't directly target kids with adult content part of a product. Kids being able recognize the product means the would be attracted to content not meant for them I think you call it a little weird that they got away with it.

[Gaastra]

Were only 2 people killed in that club scene? I remember a lot of people getting caught in the crossfire.

Also t2 killed off the twin from gremlins 2, the guy stabbed in the eyes, and the foster mom and dad are killed.

You either saw the heavy edit version of movies when they finally reach on network tv or you saw kid content related content like video games, cartoons and comics. So once again R movies weren't targeted at kids but yeah some R rated franchise did make stuff targeted at kids.

Again t2 was aimed at kids. Arnold was on nick a kids channel promoting it! Also kids DID see R films at the movies. Police academy with nudity and cursing was a HUGE hit with kids. They loved it to the point to turned into a pg family series by part 3! By 5 is aimed at kids with ads on Saturday morning! I saw police academy as a kid and it was the uncut vhs!

Beverly hills cop was a hit with kids also and so was the crow. Also keep in mind the 80s was a looser time for movies. (tv on the other hand parents throw a fit over anything bad on tv) Nudity was not a big deal then. Family and kids films clash of the titans, sheena, red Sonja, and dragonslayer (a DISNEY movie) all has nudity and all had toys and comics for kids. Clash of the titans had ads on Saturday mornings and had full on nudity! Goonies cursed like sailors and so did the bad news bears. Beetlejuice had the f word in a pg film with toys and a cartoon and the pg-13 titanic had a nude scene but kids still watched them.


Every kid at school saw die hard uncut. Freddy was so big with kids they had a doll, bubble gum, trading cards and a freddy singing record aimed at kids! Freddy was all over mtv also!


Robocop 1 was a hit with kids also. If you don't think kids watch r rated films your kidding yourself.

[TomServofan]

Also t2 killed off the twin from gremlins 2, the guy stabbed in the eyes, and the foster mom and dad are killed.




Again t2 was aimed at kids. Arnold was on nick a kids channel promoting it! Also kids DID see R films at the movies. Police academy with nudity and cursing was a HUGE hit with kids. They loved it to the point to turned into a pg family series by part 3! By 5 is aimed at kids with ads on Saturday morning! I saw police academy as a kid and it was the uncut vhs!

Beverly hills cop was a hit with kids also and so was the crow. Also keep in mind the 80s was a looser time for movies. (tv on the other hand parents throw a fit over anything bad on tv) Nudity was not a big deal then. Family and kids films clash of the titans, sheena, red Sonja, and dragonslayer (a DISNEY movie) all has nudity and all had toys and comics for kids. Clash of the titans had ads on Saturday mornings and had full on nudity! Goonies cursed like sailors and so did the bad news bears. Beetlejuice had the f word in a pg film with toys and a cartoon and the pg-13 titanic had a nude scene but kids still watched them.


Every kid at school saw die hard uncut. Freddy was so big with kids they had a doll, bubble gum, trading cards and a freddy singing record aimed at kids! Freddy was all over mtv also!


Robocop 1 was a hit with kids also. If you don't think kids watch r rated films your kidding yourself.

And some of us saw Robocop in theaters or video or cable as a kid as i saw 1 and 2 in theaters when i was 6 and 9 and had a few toys and remembered the cartoon and had some comics even Terminator vs Robocop.

And Beetlejuice was PG rated as it was a family friendly film popular with kids and was successful that it spawned merchandise as i had some and i watched/taped he cartoon.

[Killerbee911]

Again t2 was aimed at kids. Arnold was on nick a kids channel promoting it! Also kids DID see R films at the movies. Police academy with nudity and cursing was a HUGE hit with kids. They loved it to the point to turned into a pg family series by part 3! By 5 is aimed at kids with ads on Saturday morning! I saw police academy as a kid and it was the uncut vhs!

Beverly hills cop was a hit with kids also and so was the crow. Also keep in mind the 80s was a looser time for movies. (tv on the other hand parents throw a fit over anything bad on tv) Nudity was not a big deal then. Family and kids films clash of the titans, sheena, red Sonja, and dragonslayer (a DISNEY movie) all has nudity and all had toys and comics for kids. Clash of the titans had ads on Saturday mornings and had full on nudity! Goonies cursed like sailors and so did the bad news bears. Beetlejuice had the f word in a pg film with toys and a cartoon and the pg-13 titanic had a nude scene but kids still watched them.


Every kid at school saw die hard uncut. Freddy was so big with kids they had a doll, bubble gum, trading cards and a freddy singing record aimed at kids! Freddy was all over mtv also!


Robocop 1 was a hit with kids also. If you don't think kids watch r rated films your kidding yourself.

Network TV didn't show nudity at that point we are talking about and HBO was a kinda still luxury item,You had sneak to watch an R movie.You had be old enough to rent R movie on VHS. How in the world are kids watching R movies ? You guys had cool parents but most parents weren't purposely letting their kids watch R movies. They were edit version of movies and cartoons/games around and that is what was marketed at kids.

PS- Dragonslayer was a Paramount/Disney co production and Paramount was the distributor in 1981, In 1982 Disney created Touchstone for mature content. Hmm I wonder film help along that decision?

[Gaastra]

Yeah popeye was the other Disney paramount team up film. Paramount has the usa rights but Disney has the rest of the world! Yes dragonslayer is under the Disney name everywhere but here! Isn't it strange when movies do that?

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

How in the world are kids watching R movies ? You guys had cool parents but most parents weren't purposely letting their kids watch R movies.

I think it was up to how the kids acted and the movie. Godfather? Nah couldn't watch it. Commando? It was more or less a live action action cartoon so we watched it. My older nephew grew up with a copy of t2 on vhs and loved it!

[Cyke]

Offshoot, but kids shows with references to those R rated movies were all over the place, too.

Like Aliens:

[trooper_thorn]

I remembered for 34 years they marketed R-rated adult films like Rambo, Terminator 2, Robocop, Demolition Man, Aliens, Predator etc. to kids.

I think it's less that R rated movies were marketed to kids back then and more that we no longer make as many of the blockbuster style "R" rated action movies that attract kids.

I mean let's be honest, most high end action movies these days are rated PG-13 because it allows for the largest demographic spread at the box office; for heaven's sake the "RoboCop" and "Total Recall" remakes were both PG-13.

The problem is that studio's these days are more likely to view an R rating as a hindrance to making money than they used to.

[Gaastra]

Yeah the only ones I can think of kids might like are logan and Deadpool due to superheroes. I can't think of any kids would really care about today. Venom got away with a bit for pg-13. As for the 80s ands R films well films like T2 are things kids would like. T2 had a comic book like feel. Other R films I'm sure kids did not care about.

Also anyone have any of these? "He doesn't know how to use the 3 shells."

[ed2962]

Network TV didn't show nudity at that point we are talking about and HBO was a kinda still luxury item,You had sneak to watch an R movie.You had be old enough to rent R movie on VHS. How in the world are kids watching R movies ? You guys had cool parents but most parents weren't purposely letting their kids watch R movies. They were edit version of movies and cartoons/games around and that is what was marketed at kids.

PS- Dragonslayer was a Paramount/Disney co production and Paramount was the distributor in 1981, In 1982 Disney created Touchstone for mature content. Hmm I wonder film help along that decision?

It wasn't any one film. A lot of people forget that Disney was actually on the decline during the mid-late 70's. They realized that they would have to broaden their content if they wanted to stay competitive.

Just to throw it out there though...in the early 80's if you were a kid, it wasn't that hard to get a hold of R-Rated material. A lot of us were "latch key kids" so when we got home from school there wasn't always someone home to stop you from watching some horror movie on cable. And literally there were times my friends and I were able to walk into R-Rated movies because the ticket person was a snarly 20yr old who didn't care.

By the the way, I'm sure someone out there remembers paid tv services like ONTV and Spectrum that would broadcast a scrambled signal over the air. A number of us youths figured out that if you played enuff with the horizontal and vertical holds on the tv set, you could actually get a clear picture.

[numberthirty]

Just to throw it out there though...in the early 80's if you were a kid, it wasn't that hard to get a hold of R-Rated material. A lot of us were "latch key kids" so when we got home from school there wasn't always some home to stop you from watching some horror movie on cable. And literally there were times my friends and I were able to walk into R-Rated movies because they ticket person was snarly 20yr old who didn't care.

By the the way, I'm sure someone out there remembers paid tv services like ONTV and Spectrum that would broadcast a scrambled signal over the air. A number of us youths figured out that if you played enuff with the horizontal and vertical holds on the tv set, you could actually get a clear picture.

Man, ONTV.

That was an eye opener.