Entertainment & Entrepreneurship

According to a report in the L.A. Times, the upcoming British release for Bruno, the Sacha Baron Cohen mockumentary, will be released with both an 18+ rating and a 15 certificate, which allow those over 14 to see the film. The 15-certificate version will remove certain sexually explicit scenes identified by the British Board of Film Classification as inappropriate for the younger audience.

The L.A. Times points out that the British Board of Film Classification is a governmental rating board rather than the MPAA's CARA system which is voluntary for film distributors and technically voluntary for the exhibitors as well. The discretion of exhibitors makes this distinction largely illusory, however, since failure to abide with a company's adopted voluntary rating system is illegal in various jurisdictions.

The strategy of releasing multiple versions of the film theatrically is something that will be watched. The combination of "R-Rated" and unrated films is quite common for DVD release and adding both "R" and "NC-17" versions to a release for select markets is a strategy that could further entice audiences and erode the market barriers that exist for NC-17 films in the U.S.