Regal Cinema showing R rated preview before a G rated movie

Ok, please allow me to reply again. I have since seen a tv ad for what
must surely be the same movie you saw advertised in the preview at the
theater.

The ad I saw was promoting a movie called Priest, which is apparently
a vampire movie. The rating stated in the ad was PG-13. Mars Needs
Moms is rated PG.

The appropriateness of placing a preview for a PG-13 movie on a PG
movie is a bit give and take. Some would be more acceptable than
others.

Previews used to be "Approved for All Audiences" as indicated on the
green "ratings band" screen that appears at the beginning (unless the
theater removes that which they can do if they are running the show on
film--digital, not so much).

Now they are "Approved for Appropriate Audiences" and even though they
remain technically G-rated, they tend to be directed toward a crowd
that matches the movie rating.

A theater might allow previews for ONE rating higher than the feature
being shown because the previews generally are not too bad. Or they
may not.

In my case, I work the projection booth at a local discount theater.
Selection of previews is left up to us, however it is not our
responsibility to make judgement calls based on preview content (this
is because our duties require our full attention and we cannot afford
the time to watch every preview before we consider how to program it).
For this reason, we are frequently unaware of preview content or even
what the advertised movie is about.

We program previews according to rating, sometimes allowing one rating
level higher than the movie that is to follow.

It is possible that whomever programmed that preview was unaware of
the specific content (were I aware of it myself, I would elect NOT to
run it on a PG movie having now seen the content of the tv ad).

While not impossible, I think it doubtful that the studio required
that preview to be shown with that movie. That is generally reserved
for movies from the same studio. Mars Needs Moms is Disney; Priest is
Sony (though their COULD be some sort of arrangement between them for
such things).

I hope this information is helpful.

that every preview had to be approved for all audiences before being
released? Did MPAA change that or something?

No matter WHAT the rating, the prevew is supposed to be a brief,
watered down teaser of the movie. Not enough to scare a 6 year old!

And I'm pretty sure that Regal's hands ARE tied. The studios want to
promote the movies that THEY want to do well, so they certainly aren't
going to tolerate individual theaters interjecting their opinions of
the previews and yanking any of them that the theater doesn't care
for. That would be a BIG no-no.

While I think the preview should be at least SOMEWHAT appropriate to
the movie (as Jared pointed out) I think you may be barking up the
wrong tree with Regal.

This movie is rated PG

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1305591/

What was the name of the Vampire movie in the trailer? Perhaps if you
got the rating on the movie you actually went to see, you got the
rating on the movie trailer incorrect too?

Most of the time the previews are already attached to the movie, it
would be best to also contact the studio that made the movie with this
suggestion as well.

I worked for a movie theater company for 12 years as one of my
previous jobs. From experience, I can tell you that some previews are
a;ready attached to the movie by the studio when the film arrives at
the theater. The theater is not allowed, by contract, to remove them.
The movie studios will often hire people to verify which previews are
shown prior to the movie and report back. as someone else posted, are
you sure the preview wasn't for a PG-13 movie? You should try
contacting the studio that produced Mars Needs Moms and mention which
previews you saw before the film.

I would agree that R previews before a G movie wouldn't make sense -
wouldn't even be the target audience. However, Mars Needs Moms is
actually a PG movie - are you sure that the Vampire movie that you saw
previews for isn't also PG or maybe PG13?

While we're at it, lets make sure that there aren't G or PG movie
previews before the PG-13 or R rated movies. And get rid of the chick
flick previews before the action movies.

Why on Earth would anyone going to see The Adjustment Bureau want to
see that stupid, lame Justin Bieber movie????!?

Why would anyone going to see Predators want to see Morning
Glory???!??

They're entitled to show a preview for an R rated movie before a G
rated movie, but the preview itself is not supposed to contain any R
rated stuff.

However, this is just bad/stupid judgment. If they showed the G rated
parts of an R rated movie, they're not really promoting the movie
well, so what's the point? surely there are plenty of G and PG movies
to promote before a kids' movie.

The studios will "attach" a preview that they require theaters to
play. They will also insist that more previews included loose "in the
can" be run as well on the big blockbuster movies. They do send
checkers to theaters to make sure they comply. But theaters add some
previews of their own choosing also. In the case of big blockbusters,
this can be why the previews alone will run 20+ minutes: the studio
requires several and the theater (or its home office) wants others so
they run them ALL. But in normal circumstances the studio only
requires the one and the theater (or home office) adds the rest.

This would make me very irritated! Did you get a chance to approach
the manager at the theater while you where there?