Black Adam starring Dwayne Johnson was initially given a R rating by the MPAA until the violence was toned down to PG-13.
The origin story of the titular antihero, one of the most powerful metahumans in the DC world, is explored in the movie. The trouble is that Black Adam uses all of his power to enforce his deranged concept of justice, according to which any criminal must be killed immediately.
During an interview with Collider, producer Hiram Garcia revealed Black Adam’s extraordinary killstreak, which nearly resulted to the picture being labeled R.
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“We really wanted to make sure that we honored the character of Black Adam. One of the things he’s known for is his aggression and violence, and to do a Black Adam movie that didn’t have that just wouldn’t have been authentic. So we always went into this knowing that we were going to push it as far as we did.”
Garcia continued, “We knew it was going to be a collaborative process with the MPAA to finally get it to where we were able, to get that rating, but we were able to pull it off. But it was really important for us to do that. And that’s something Dwayne was very committed to as well.”
While the filmmakers’ dedication to the original material is admirable, it nearly cost the movie its PG-13 rating. According to Beau Flynn, it took four rounds with the MPAA, and the film only got the PG-13 a few weeks ago.
The film will be released in cinemas on October 21.
