To inform parents, ratings will describe film violence

By HANNAH DREIER

Associated Press

LAS VEGAS

The Motion Picture Association of America announced changes Tuesday to its movie rating system, saying the group wants to better inform parents about violence in films.

The new system, called the “Check the Box” campaign, will include prominent and detailed descriptions explaining why a movie received a particular rating. Films that might previously have been stamped PG-13 with a throw-away sentence beneath the rating will now feature extensive descriptions in large font next to the ratings code.

One example read, “An intense scene of war violence, some images of carnage, brief strong violence.”

The changes announced by MPAA CEO Christopher Dodd in Las Vegas on Tuesday come in the aftermath of explosions at the Boston Marathon and recent shooting rampages, though the former U.S. senator did not address such examples directly.

The White House has called on the movie industry help parents monitor violence in media since the elementary school in Newtown, Conn., the state Dodd represented for 30 years as a Democrat until 2011. And in a sweeping proposal this year, President Barack Obama asked specifically for a stricter rating system.

Dodd announced the industry’s plan at the annual movie-theater convention, CinemaCon, and spoke generally about the need to help parents “so they can make the best choices about what movies are appropriate for their children to watch.”

The MPAA began issuing ratings descriptions for every film rated PG or higher in 1990.

Some observers had hoped Dodd might use his keynote address to signal to the industry that the MPAA would begin assigning R ratings to all hyper-violent movies, potentially limiting their audience and quashing their box office appeal.

Conservative groups have for years accused the MPAA of “ratings creep,” a ratcheting down of ratings in the interest of profits, so that material once considered a PG-13 now gets a PG and what once was an R is now a PG-13.