Casino Royale Rated?

[corfy]

A friend of mine swears he read somewhere that the upcoming Casino Royale movie will have an R rating in the U.S. due to "frontal nudity".

Although I can't seem to find anything to back up his claim, I also can't find anything to disprove it (other than the the main site still says the film is not yet rated, but that doesn't mean the producers don't have a rating in mind).

If true, this would seem to be major change in the Bond series, since no Bond movie yet has received higher than a PG-13 rating.

Has anyone else heard anything about this?

[AndyJWS]

Nothing especially recent, but early interviews said the film would be aimed for the PG-13/12A market - hard to see them deviate, as the only significant change in rating was the UK 15 for Licence to Kill, which wound up with a worldwide gross almost $50m less than it's predecessor, The Living Daylights - indeed, notwithstanding the minor hiccup of View to a Kill (grossed $4m less worldwide than Licence to Kill but cost $10m less to make) it's the lowest take of any Bond film since 1974's Man With The Golden Gun!

The double whammy of a new and contentious Bond actor and a higher rating would certainly not be good for business, especially as they will be hoping to match or top the $161m US and Ģ40m UK (home audience!) grosses, a very tall order for an R-rated film and pretty much unforseen in the UK, where the rating translates to 15 or 18 (even a strong PG-13 could go the 15 route, like Licence to Kill!) So could be a bold move for the new direction of Bond, but am as yet unconvinced... I mean, how can it show on TV on Bank Holiday afternoons if it's an R/15!