How important is a movie’s rating to you? Personally, I’ve never factored that into the equation when searching for a box office to visit. I like sex, blood, and F-bombs (not combined!) as much as the next guy, but it’s never the make-or-break factor in heading to the theater.
The A-Team’s $26M haul, despite playing on 5,200 screens, have some people wondering if the film’s PG-13 rating was a money-making kiss of death.
According to Darren Franich at PopWatch, “Hollywood’s craven attempt to make teen-friendly films has practically destroyed a sainted genre: the contemporary action movie.”
I think that’s a very fair statement. However, I also believe that not every TV show is ripe for the big screen. Television has always had an innocence (well, up until this century) that people not only accepted, but actually liked! I realize that our ever-devolving culture and the widespread ADD outbreak has many people hankering for raunchy jump cuts – but I have another thought…
Perhaps Bradley Cooper is simply not a big draw. The ladies like him, but the A-Team ain’t no romcom. And I’m not sure that men have accepted him as a ‘man’s man.’ After all, if you take away The Hangover and the monster-sized cast of the very weak Valentine’s Day, what had B-Coop really done aside from bed several Hollywood starlets? (There WAS All About Steve).
I’m not sure if we can blame the A-Team’s sub-par performance on its ratings or the cast – but they definitely did something wrong. I’m right in the wheelhouse of its target audience and I have absolutely no interest – even if it was NC-17.