It was recently announced Warner Bros. and Fathom Events would be releasing the extended versions of The Hobbit trilogy in theaters beginning October 5. The three films would be shown over the course of three nights and will include an exclusive introduction from director Peter Jackson. One new and rather interesting piece of information regarding the upcoming extended release of The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies is that the MPAA has awarded it an “R” rating for “some violence”.
The movie was added to yesterday’s ratings bulletin after I had already posted it, but the rating is official and Battle of the Five Armies is listed as rated R on the MPAA’s official site.
The previously released extended editions of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug were rated PG-13 and considering the amount of fantasy violence in the whole of all of these films not to mention the Lord of the Rings trilogy and pretty much every PG-13 fantasy movie released nowadays it’s a bit fascinating to see Battle of the Five Armies carry an R rating.
We’ll see if more information comes of this or if Warner Home Video will appeal the rating, though when an appeal is going to be made the MPAA typically notes it on their bulletins, with this one the only note is the one I listed above.
