The suits would tell you because they don't want to lose those teenage ticket buyers. Which is silly because I remember growing up with big budget R-rated movies making fortunes and nobody batting an eye at the rating.

The only non-comedy R-rated genre movies out recently was the forgettable PROMETHEUS and the terrific shoot-em-up DREDD, and both considered financial disapointments* are being blamed on the rating.

Of course I could easily say that PROMETHEUS' problem was it wasn't that good and bad WOM killed it, and that DREDD's problem was nobody in America knew of Judge Dredd (a British comic strip character), and if they did, they knew that shitty Sylvester Stallone movie.

I think what makes that fear of the R rating even worse is the dearth in modest budget movies. Anymore Hollywood is only willing to fund expensive blockbusters (which have to broad and universal in their appeal) that sell lunchboxes and only make a profit apparently if they gross a billion bucks. Or micro-budget independent movies that which quite frankly studios lose nothing in backing them. (MAGIC MIKE cost $5 million.)

*=How a movie grossing $400 million is a disapointment, I can't understand but that's Hollywood accounting for you.