Rumor: Hitman movie watered down for PG-13

by Alexander Sliwinski { Oct 10th 2007 at 8:30PM }

According to website Twitch, Fox Studios pulled the director of the Hitman movie off the project in post-production and will re-edit the film to receive a PG-13 rating. There is no official word yet that this is true, but the story goes director Xavier Gens was yanked off the project because the film he submitted to executives would have guaranteed an R rating. Apparently post-production of the film has now been handed over to Nicolas DeToth, the man who edited the hell out of Live Free or Die Hard to receive a PG-13 rating. Essentially they are turning a hyper-violent (mature?) movie and watering it down for the kids -- if true, there's something wrong in that, on so many levels.

Our friends over at Cinematical put it this way: "See, here's how I know Hollywood is a lunatic bin: Whomever hired Mr. Gens for this job had to know two things: 1) The director's first film -- Frontiere(s) -- is so amazingly and powerfully violent that it ~~almost~~ becomes parody. 2) The video game? You know, the one that this new Hitman movie is BASED ON? It's a pretty damn violent game. Like, really violent." Not only is it violent our Cinematical friends, but the games are all rated Mature, the video game industry's version of an R rating. Oh well, guess we'll just skip the movie in the theater and wait for the unrated version on DVD.

[Via Cinematical]

Tags: hitman, hitmanmovie

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Kyle @ Oct 10th 2007 8:35PM

Thats why videogame based movies don't work, they still have no regard for the source material it's based on

GRANTED @ Oct 11th 2007 9:55AM

if it had Jason Statham in it, it would still kick ass.

Hollywood Ron @ Oct 11th 2007 12:30PM

Hollywood has no respect for any source material ever.

Hollywood Ron @ Oct 11th 2007 12:31PM

Hollywood has no respect for any source material ever. Video game, book, other movie, musical, or cave painting.

Deprincer @ Oct 10th 2007 8:36PM

This is appalling.

Grey Fox @ Oct 10th 2007 8:44PM

If you follow Hollywood's film industry much it isn't that surprising considering how they suck any dick that comes around that says "do this and you'll make your return on this film". I'm pretty fucking mad about it though since I already hate FOX (no not the TV network branch...actually I do but unrelated) and this WAS looking to be good.

captainawesome @ Oct 10th 2007 8:37PM

Are you telling me that a movie based on a game about being a contract killer is violent?

mcatrage @ Oct 10th 2007 10:11PM

No of course not all heroes in pg-13 movies should be looked up to and copied by kids.

playwhutyalike @ Oct 10th 2007 8:38PM

If this be true then this be gay. I don't mean homosexual. I mean effin' gay.

Whadya expect from Hollywood, anyways? Hopefully it's better than Alvin and the Chipmunks.

JanJan @ Oct 10th 2007 9:23PM

that's not pc dude

playwhutyalike @ Oct 10th 2007 9:32PM

Thanks JanJan.

How come you didn't go pick on blooh? Go eff yourself.

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler). @ Oct 10th 2007 11:22PM

Man I thought on so many funny a$$ jokes but I will post them later where the moral police and the internet patrol can't get me.

So I will just agree with playwhutyalike saying yep that's sucks.

Seriously the guy they picked couldn’t look more like a well ya know also wasn't Agent 46 some sort of Anti-hero really why PG13? The only people that would care about a Hitman movie would be the fans and as a fan I wouldn’t go watch it.

LAZoftheTamarinds @ Oct 10th 2007 8:40PM

Well this pretty much sucks. I just hope it remains faithful to the games and it is good. But the way other videogame movies are I don't have such high expectations. Still I might rent it.

JediOG @ Oct 10th 2007 8:57PM

Well to be honest I already gave up on the movie when I saw who was playing the main character I mean, come on!

blooh (CDF - Ass Ring) @ Oct 10th 2007 9:28PM

HAHA, i just looked it up, it's the bad guy from die hard 4. coincidence? but he sure doesn't look anything like agent 47, even if he shaved his head. the hitman is like 45 years old and is very skinny and pale. christian bale might've made a decent agent 47, esp. with his experience in american psycho

GRANTED @ Oct 11th 2007 10:11AM

word christian bale is my fav actor. he would be incredible but they cant afford that kind of star power.

Dan @ Oct 10th 2007 9:01PM

I'm amazed that it's even a concern. Disregarding that it's based on a game, it's a movie about a hitman. An assassin. A paid murderer. Why wouldn't you just go into it thinking it was going to be R-rated violent? I hope they aren't doing this (if it's true) just because it's game based and therefore some younger folks might be fans...

Psaakyrn @ Oct 10th 2007 9:17PM

Did you by any chance implied that people who aren't even supposed to be playing the game, could be fans of it?

(Also, how would parents reply to their kids when they ask for the game the movie's based on?)

Dan @ Oct 10th 2007 9:26PM

Sorta, but all I'm really saying is that I hope they don't think something is kid's stuff just because it's a game.

blooh (CDF - Ass Ring) @ Oct 10th 2007 9:02PM

GAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

also dan, weren't the games rated M? if you're old enough to play the games you're old enough to see a R movie...

Dan @ Oct 10th 2007 9:18PM

Definitely, blooh. I'm just hoping that some executive isn't thinking that just because it's a game, regardless of it's rating, it must be kid's stuff and therefore they have to get a PG-13.

Shockgamer @ Oct 10th 2007 9:03PM

And this is why the movie will join Live Free and Die Hard in my netflix queue. I'm not paying to see some watered down crap.

LegendarySyko @ Oct 10th 2007 9:47PM

Honestly Live Free or Die Hard was a VERY awesome movie, just cause someone face doesnt get cut in half or they say the n word every two seconds (DieHard w/ Vegence im looking at you) wont make it a bad film. Live Free was an awesome action packed film that was critically liked.

On subject thought, something like Hitman should be rated R, but I might not go to hell as fast as you think, but what from Joystiq says the director uses alot of violence to make a good film, it might turn out to be bad if thats the case.

LAZoftheTamarinds @ Oct 10th 2007 10:38PM

I also thought Die Hard 4 was a good movie. Very cool.

AirIntake @ Oct 11th 2007 9:32AM

Live Free or Die Hard was the worst attempt at a sequel I've seen in quite a while. If you think that it was a good movie, please watch the original again. The timing of 4 never got flowing due to the shoddy edits.

Jose El Maton @ Oct 10th 2007 9:19PM

Am I the only one here planning to avoid this movie, lest it screw with my perception of my beloved Mr. 47? Love those games...

shamgar @ Oct 10th 2007 9:22PM

Wait Wait Wait. Your telling me that a movie about a guy who kills people FOR MONEY was going to be rated R? What did the execs think this was? Hes a HITMAN. He kills people. In cold blood. He sneaks up and shoots them in the back. He poisons. He chokes with fiber wire. This is not a pg-13 movie!

blooh (CDF - Ass Ring) @ Oct 10th 2007 9:25PM

let's start an internet petition to get the original director back! lol, rabble rabble!

captainawesome @ Oct 10th 2007 9:31PM

Soon enough we'll get Hitman: The Movie: The Game, with the violence cut out and Agent 47 based on the movie version. Stupid people will buy it and write off the Hitman series.

NaoLoDIng @ Oct 10th 2007 9:47PM

I might be concerned about this if I wasn't already sure that this movie will be a certified piece of $#%&. So now you have a piece of crap with a PG-13 rating so that (technically) more people can pay to see it than would pay to see the R rated piece of crap. Enjoy.

Ska Oreo @ Oct 10th 2007 10:26PM

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

But wait, remember Live Free and Die hard was watered down to a pg-13 rating, and that was the best one in the series. So maybe it could still be good?

blooh (CDF - Ass Ring) @ Oct 10th 2007 11:09PM

HAHAHAHAHAHA

sorry, but die hard 4 was only slightly better than number 2, and both of course take a back seat to 1 and 3

AirIntake @ Oct 11th 2007 9:53AM

4 was not the best. Not if you like Die Hard movies. 2 sucked ass, but was still better than 4 just due to better timing and editing.

ZippyDSMlee @ Oct 10th 2007 10:27PM

and comic movies are better? they rape the content and rework it to try and feed it as many brain dead 12-29's they can,anyone outside the demographic who goes to see it is just extra double kills.

Of coarse it could be worse hollywood takes it makes it R only and rapes it down to being posh goth inspired trash like Blade....*shudders*

really must they take it and make it into "insert sub culture chive here" trash?

Ghost rider with the metrosexaul vampire demons was cute as well....or a teen adventure flick where the robot stars are bit charatcers.......makes emo spidy 3 look great....

my god and hollywood wonders why they are having profit issues, prehaps if they did not rape and give the limp corpse of the IP/CP a dirty sanchez then more people would I dunno watch their sht and feel like paying for it and not feel feel like they were robed of time after watching it.......

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!
and to think gaming is heading in that direction...*sigh*

EMaster @ Oct 10th 2007 11:26PM

Spidey 3 = Chickflick. Stan Lee = Sell Out. Hollywood = Bullshit. People = should stop paying for movies like these.

ZippyDSMlee @ Oct 11th 2007 12:18AM

why is it I can reply to myself and not others?
joystiq...fix yo shizzle....

Anyway
EMaster
whos not a sell out if the money is right? 0-o
A PG rated Halo thats abotu as "graphic" as the old starwars would be prefect for the current fcked up system we find ourselfs in.

mirage
movies are the holy grail of media ,you can't blame it no tis the games that making stupid people stupid >

jackbauer @ Oct 10th 2007 10:55PM

i think i speak for everyone when i say

NAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

byrd @ Oct 10th 2007 11:12PM

I just saw the trailer during tonight's episode of South Park. It was rated R. I think this rumor is either BS, or a minor publicity stunt, or both.

EMaster @ Oct 10th 2007 11:24PM

Relax guys. I was expecting this. Hollywood likes to take shit that is hyper successful in Video games/retro cartoons/shows and fuck it up on the silver screen. I want to meet the fuckers who make these decisions and make them watch through each episode or play through an entire fucking game of Hitman to realize he is not PG 13. You know what this encourages? 12 year olds wanting to play an M-rated Hitman game cause they thought the game was cool. Hollywood is bullshit and that is why I pirate their movies and choose not only to pay maybe for 1/25 movies but outright refuse to pay for their shitty DVDs with minimal and useless content. Fuck fox, Fuck Hollywood and fuck the guy who made this decision.

mirage @ Oct 10th 2007 11:38PM

What is really sad is that most PG 13 movies would receive an M rating based on the ESRB rating system. Yet it is okay to peddle these movies to our kids while games that were made for adults are "controversial". What a fucked up society we live in!

tobin92 @ Oct 11th 2007 1:38AM

The movie looks dreadful.

Hitman is a STEALTH game.....You are an assassin. Our goal is silent assassin. You poison, sneak, snap neck, hide bodies, use unorthodox method like sabatoging grills.

You NEVER go guns blazing like the movie says. That is mass murdered, not assassin.

I think Hitman isn't terribly violent. I mean the you kill drugs lord, CP ring leader, killers and even vice-presidents planning to kill the president. All people who got what was coming to them.

ThornedVenom @ Oct 11th 2007 2:14AM

So THAT'S why they casted Timothy Olyphant! ;P

On a more serious note, the industry is being too hypocritical here... they make a movie for "teens" based on a violent M-rated game. What's that going to do if the movie is successful? Make those "teens" buy M-rated games.

I don't care if youngsters play M-rated games, because I believe that the ESRB is total crap, but it's just that we're going to hear some shit more from some Jackos.

Richard @ Oct 11th 2007 5:14AM

In pretty much every circumstance directors are contractually obligated when hired to deliver a film that meets a specific MPAA rating. If they decided midway through production to turn an R movie into a PG-13 movie then this would suck and be unfair to the director. But I doubt it; it's more likely he signed on to direct a PG-13 movie. It's also likely they let him film additional violent scenes for the standard "unrated DVD" that will come out. If for some reason he refused to deliver a PG-13 cut for theatrical release, he's a jerk. I mean if it was his money, fine, but the studio trusted him with tens of millions of dollars, it seems they should be able to get what they paid for.
That said, everythng about this movie seems to stink from the get go. Timothy Olyphant is a great actor; he was plenty scary in Go, and was equally intense in Deadwood. But the shots of his bald head in the clips from this movie just look goofy.

2kings @ Oct 11th 2007 7:37AM

Video Game movies sucks

always have probably always will

TRUTH @ Oct 11th 2007 8:02AM

WACK!!!!!!

Gangsta Smurf @ Oct 11th 2007 9:48AM

I'm still going to see it. PG-13 still display violence (not as much as R-rated) just not as much cursing IIRC. I would love for it to have as much mayhem as Die Hard 4.0

refinedsugar @ Oct 11th 2007 12:07PM

I was really looking forward to this film. Typical. Should have seen this coming with how movies are made to market to mass audiences these days. In any case, the worst news I've read in a long while.

Spitkicker @ Oct 16th 2007 4:58PM

Fucking lame! This reminds me of how Fox did Alien Vs Predator. PG-13? WTF!! I am a huge fan of the original comics and books, yet they watered down the movie (it still rocked though...12/25/07 for AVP 2!!). I mean where the hell was the predator decapitating mofos? Anyway, I am not a fan of the hitman series but this is stupid. The game is not for young people.