300, Rise of an Empire

I just saw 300 which influences my ideas about the impending HotQ movie.

300 is definitely stylized to emulate the graphic novel. I accept the gratuitous blood and gore. I suffered through the gratuitous nudity. We did not to see Queen Gorgo's naked breasts again, but the rather violent "love scene" between Thermisticles and Artemesia compensated for that. Given the ratings success of 300, we need to reconsider the need to maintain a PG-13 rating.

namelessfly wrote:I just saw 300 which influences my ideas about the impending HotQ movie.

300 is definitely stylized to emulate the graphic novel. I accept the gratuitous blood and gore. I suffered through the gratuitous nudity. We did not to see Queen Gorgo's naked breasts again, but the rather violent "love scene" between Thermisticles and Artemesia compensated for that. Given the ratings success of 300, we need to reconsider the need to maintain a PG-13 rating.

If HoTQ were like 300, I would refuse to see it myself, let alone allow my daughter to see it. So allow me to disagree.

I'm not necessarily agreeing with Namelessfly, but 300:Rise of an Empire does show that a movie adaptation of a graphic novel (of an adaptation of a sci-fi novel) will work.

Although in the case of 300, the PG-13 rating is due to the brief nudity and excessive gore, having that rating for the Evergreen HotQ does not mean it has to share those aspects. Instead, it could take into account the violence from the space battles and Mayhew assassination attempt, the occasional swearing (I know there is a limit on the amount of swearing in a straight PG movie), and the 'adult themes' of sexual discrimination and religious fanaticism that are at the core of the story itself.

Add in the fact in most cases, a PG-13 movie within the same genre grosses more than a straight PG movie and in order to draw in a wider audience and tell a more... accurate, story a PG-13 rating would be the better choice.

300 is rated R for good reason. The bare breasts are numerous, gratuitous and dynamic.

Borealis wrote:I'm not necessarily agreeing with Namelessfly, but 300:Rise of an Empire does show that a movie adaptation of a graphic novel (of an adaptation of a sci-fi novel) will work.

Although in the case of 300, the PG-13 rating is due to the brief nudity and excessive gore, having that rating for the Evergreen HotQ does not mean it has to share those aspects. Instead, it could take into account the violence from the space battles and Mayhew assassination attempt, the occasional swearing (I know there is a limit on the amount of swearing in a straight PG movie), and the 'adult themes' of sexual discrimination and religious fanaticism that are at the core of the story itself.

Add in the fact in most cases, a PG-13 movie within the same genre grosses more than a straight PG movie and in order to draw in a wider audience and tell a more... accurate, story a PG-13 rating would be the better choice.

SWM wrote:

namelessfly wrote:I just saw 300 which influences my ideas about the impending HotQ movie.

300 is definitely stylized to emulate the graphic novel. I accept the gratuitous blood and gore. I suffered through the gratuitous nudity. We did not to see Queen Gorgo's naked breasts again, but the rather violent "love scene" between Thermisticles and Artemesia compensated for that. Given the ratings success of 300, we need to reconsider the need to maintain a PG-13 rating.

If HoTQ were like 300, I would refuse to see it myself, let alone allow my daughter to see it. So allow me to disagree.

As a physicist you would no doubt take a professional interest in the undamped harmonic oscillations and would find yourself estimating volumes, masses and then derive spring constants given the observed frequencies.

If it's PG-13, there's a good possibility of it being workable and maintaining that rating. I don't think HotQ needs any nudity (sorry, namelessfly) to make it work. Honestly, it goes pretty well against the way the books are portrayed anyhow. Minus shower scenes.

Then again, the R rating has an appeal all its own. Considering the fact that it's going to be thrown up for comparison against such giants as Star Trek and Star Wars, being more graphic could work in its favor. There's going to be inevitable comparisons.

Being more violent without destroying the message would be key. I don't think anyone wants to have people throwing up in the aisle, but it's a powerful message if we see people dying left and right on screen, but the crew keeps doing their duty regardless. I can't imagine a much more powerful scene than the death ride.

namelessfly wrote:300 is rated R for good reason. The bare breasts are numerous, gratuitous and dynamic.

Yes, yes, but is there a shower scene?

Hutch wrote:

namelessfly wrote:300 is rated R for good reason. The bare breasts are numerous, gratuitous and dynamic.

Yes, yes, but is there a shower scene?

No, there is no shower scene.

However; the "negotiation" between Thermisticles and Artemesia is about as graphic as you can get without being X-rated.

I have had a lot of fun with this thread but the serious point here is that the success of 300, both the original and the sequel, demonstrates that more serious Sci Fi movies can be profitable and that the need to be PG or PG-13 criteria for profitability is no longer paramount.

I don't want to see HotQ done in the same, stylized emulation of graphic novel imagery as 300, but the success of these films suggests that the high resolution, psudorealism of Star Wars and Star Trek movies might not be needed to satisfy the tastes of the audience.

Well, 300 was a surrpise hit despite being rated "R", and that was mostly due to the stylized graphic-novel look and that it was probably the most macho-or homoerotic--movie ever. The sequel did reasonably well since it was a familiar property and mostly follows the same formula as the original, though maybe Eva Green getting topless had something to do with it as well.

The Honorverse movie is a largely unknown property, and an R rating may in fsct doom it to failure--you don't want to turn off much of the potential audience beforehand. In fact, the main difference between a PG-13 and R-rated HoTQ movie would be whether or not blood is seen during the combat, both in space and on the ground. With a PG-13, there can be a lot of combat action and emotional/psychological intensity, but no blood (e.g. squibs) or graphic gore. I see a "soft" R as suitable for the movie, not a "hard" R.