Mpaa | featured news

The Motion Picture Association of America announced changes to its movie rating system Tuesday, saying it wants to help parents make informed decisions at the multiplex. The new system, rolled out as the "Check the Box" campaign, will include prominent descriptions explaining why a movie received its rating. Films that might previously have been stamped PG-13 with a sentence beneath the rating will now feature those same descriptions in large type next to the ratings code.

“Bully”–the controversial documentary from the Weinstein Company–finally got a PG-13 rating today from the MPAA. The movie had received an R rating originally, prompting a massive backlash and a publicity campaign that spawned a national petition, celebrity protests, and lots of free airtime. The Weinstein Company released “Bully,” directed by Lee Hirsch, last Friday without a rating in New York and Los Angeles.

The documentary pries open the world of child abuse by other children. It received an R rating, but if kids want to see a life-changing film, they should sneak in.

Former Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut is taking over as head of the Motion Picture Association of America.

Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling's upcoming drama, "Blue Valentine," has won an appeal of its adults-only NC-17 rating and will go into theaters with an R-rating instead.

Just a couple of days after the release of Hatchet II, the AMC theater chain has pulled the unrated slasher sequel from all of the cinemas that were showing the movie.

Glickman, the Hollywood studios' top lobbyist in Washington since taking over for Jack Valenti in 2004, will leave the Motion Picture Association of America when his contract ends next September.

Dan Glickman will step down as Hollywood's top lobbyist next year, leaving his post as chairman and chief executive of the Motion Picture Assn.

The MPAA has previously been critical of the negative effect it says BitTorrent has on the movie industry, but a recent experiment in a Norwegian movie theater shows that it might actually be of use to them.