Tuesday, March 1, 2011

The 'King's Speech' Gets Cleaned-Up


Weinstein Co. is betting that a PG-13 version of the "The King's Speech" can help it capitalize on the R-rated film's Oscar win for best picture, according to a story by Michelle King at wsj.com.

Already, the historical drama—which has taken in $245 million at the box office world-wide to date—is seeing a bump in online ticket sales: Fandango on Monday sold twice as many tickets for the film as it did the Monday preceding the Oscars, according to a spokesman for the film-ticketing site.

Weinstein Co. hopes to extend that further by releasing a more family-friendly version of the film than the original version, the company said. The company, which distributed the film, hasn't said when it will release the new version.

The version of the film that's currently in theaters features a scene in which Colin Firth's character, King George VI, is encouraged by his speech therapist Lionel Logue, played by Geoffrey Rush, to curse repeatedly to help overcome his stutter on the eve of World War II. The scene will be altered in the PG-13 version.

The Motion Picture Association of America approved the change, agreeing to waive a rule requiring distributors to withdraw the original version of a film for 90 days before an alternate version is released.

Read more here.

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