Friday, March 8, 2013

Dumb parent worries: Will my kid get spooked by PG-13 trailers like After Earth in front of PG-rated movies like Oz?

I made an offhand joke a couple days ago about all of the big summer release trailers being dropped online and presumably into theater this week.  I'm taking my daughter to see Oz: The Great and Powerful tonight and I'm curious to see which trailers are attached to PG-rated Disney family adventure.  Obviously The Hangover part III is probably not going to make an appearance.  But what about the more mainstream PG-13 entertainments like Iron Man 3 or After Earth?  So will the first 15-20 minutes or so of my daughter's moviegoing experience consist of a series of trailers for big summer releases that she can't see?  Will I have to explain that "No, sweetie, *this* Iron Man movie is for adults."  I've had to do that before, like when when she spotted the DVD of Snow White and the Huntsman at Best Buy, and I always feel like an idiot when doing so.  The other thought that comes to mind is a 12 year old news story, one which I gave little thought to at the time.  

If you recall, there was a momentary hub-bub when Universal opted not to attach their trailer for The Mummy Returns to prints of The Grinch, over fears that the teaser for the PG-13 horror/action picture would scare the very youngest kids seeing Jim Carrey's Dr. Seuss adaptation over opening weekend. It was arguably a noble call, both because The Grinch made $55 million-a-pop over its first two weekends and because other studios ended up playing their PG-13 trailers in front if The Grinch without incident.  Twelve years ago I was a sophomore in college and I was slightly bemused.  Now I'm a father of a five-year old hoping that my kid doesn't get freaked out by Tony Stark's house getting blown up and/or Jaden Smith being attacked by a giant cat-like creature. I don't have any profound thoughts on this, it just represents one of those 'now that I'm a dad..." moments that I otherwise try to avoid on principle.  In retrospect, Universal made the right call back in November 2000.  I'll be curious to see just what kind of trailers theaters will be attaching to Oz: The Great and Powerful outside of the obvious animated picks.

Does the 'one tentpole fits all' mentality, which began in 2001 with The Mummy Returns among other films, extend to trailers as well?  We'll see, to the extent that it matters...          

1 comment:

Andrew said...

The baboons were pretty evil so I think you're good.

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