James Wan’s upcoming horror flick The Conjuring reportedly received its R-rating for simply being too scary.
Although the MPAA is a bit more lenient towards horror movies than it has been in the past, this didn’t stop the Saw director’s latest flick from getting slapped with an R-rating. The reason: The Conjuring is simply too “scary” for PG-13 audiences .
Wan said his goal with the upcoming horror movie was to prove to filmmakers can deliver a terrifying cinematic experience with a PG-13 rating . Unfortunately for the director, the MPAA has decided his flick is just a little too intense for some moviegoers.
“When we sent it into the board they gave us the R-rating. When we asked them why they basically said, ‘It’s just so scary. [There are] no specific scenes or tone you could take out to get it PG-13,” executive producer Walter Hamada explained.
James Wan said he is thankful that Warner Bros. has decided to keep The Conjuring scheduled for this summer despite the R-rating. The film was originally slated for release this February. However, strong test screenings prompted the studio to move the film to a more lucrative date.
“It’s a testament to the studio too for not [expletive] with the film. It works and they are sticking to it and I’m very thankful for that,” the director told the WonderCon crowd.
James Wan is currently putting together a follow-up to his 2010 horror flick Insidious . The director revealed that he never sets out to make sequels when he writes a script.
The filmmaker said:
“If they happen, that’s great because that means people out there love it and they want more of it, but I always felt with Insidious we created this really interesting world that we can explore more, and so even though we didn’t set out to make a sequel, I felt that there are stories still out there that could be told.”
The Conjuring stars Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Ron Livingston, Lili Taylor, Joey King, Shanley Caswell, Haley McFarland, Mackenzie Foy, Kyla Deaver, and Sterling Jerins. The scary R-rated movie will land in theaters on July 19.