Tales of the Black Freighter to be R-Rated

Tales of the Black Freighter to be R-Rated

Last year, we learned that Warner Bros. would release two of the “Watchmen” graphic novel’s stories-within-the-story as their own straight-to-DVD features. Now, it looks like one of them, “Tales of the Black Freighter,” may have earned an R rating from the MPAA.

By ComicBookMovie - Jan 08, 2009 05:01 PM EST
Filed Under: Watchmen
Source: MTV

This from MTV's Splash Page...

Warner Bros. has been breaking out loads of extra “Watchmen” content ahead of the film’s March 6 release date, which may be dangling by a thread. And anyone who’s been watching the trailers knows director Zack Snyder fully intends to flesh out original writer Alan Moore’s bleak portrait on superheroes.

“Tales of the Black Freighter,” however, has a special place in the “Watchmen” story. It plays the role of a comic read by children that prods at the 1950s speculation that comics inspired juvenile delinquency and poison young minds. If Snyder wants to play that up to its fullest, it’s completely understandable that this animated swashbuckling story could be slapped with an R rating.

This latest ratings report lacks a rating for “Under the Hood,” Hollis Mason’s tale about his life as Nite-Owl. While there is an IMdB listing for “Freighter,” which includes Gerard Butler in the lead voicing role, there is no such entry for “Under the Hood.” Both were reported to be on a single DVD release hitting on March 10, four days after “Watchmen” comes to theaters (unless the “Watchmen” legal drama forces a delay).

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adamant877
adamant877 - 1/8/2009, 6:06 PM
At least their may still be a POSSIBILITY that we'll get to see these accompanying shorts... right?!
Spock
Spock - 1/8/2009, 6:11 PM
Alright sounds good so far, just need to wait after jan 20 now!@
NoobMike
NoobMike - 1/8/2009, 9:08 PM
Why is this reported as a shocker, it had to have at least an R rating, a stranded desperate sailor that makes a raft out of the bloated bodies of his dead friends would have no less than an R rating. If they toned it down, it wouldn't be the same story they would have had to change it all.
alten2345
alten2345 - 1/8/2009, 10:27 PM
IMDB has Gerard Butler listed as the voice of the Mariner for Tales of the Black Freighter. Pretty cool.
TheUnknown
TheUnknown - 1/9/2009, 12:51 AM
I wonder how they can make 'Under the Hood' interesting...
BubbaDude
BubbaDude - 1/9/2009, 8:53 AM
Read the book grif. The Freighter is an integral part of the story.

Personally, I want to see 'Under the Hood' It wasn't as fleshed out in the book the way Freighter was. Gives the movie makers more leeway to tell that part of the story.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 1/10/2009, 11:33 AM
Grif tales of the black freighter is a comic within the comic. its read episodically by a little street kid. its a standalone story but it mirrors alot of the character beats in the main narative, particularly Ozymandias's story
xaosjerk
xaosjerk - 1/10/2009, 3:33 PM
So I guess this means the watchmen extended version won't interlace the black freighter scenes =( ? That's pretty disappointing.
warpath15
warpath15 - 1/10/2009, 3:39 PM
I thought I read somewhere that on the dvd you would have the option of watching the freightor alone, or you could watch a longer version of the movie with the freightor.
xaosjerk
xaosjerk - 1/10/2009, 4:07 PM
Hope that's true, though I hope theres more extended stuff than just the black freighter stuff.
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