For 40 years, fans of the Ghostbusters franchise have wondered: “When will Slimer say the F-word?”
It seems like the sort of thing that any director with even a hint of vision would have included by now, if they weren’t hobbled by the parental guidance of the MPAA. Sure, they’ll show him in situations where the only appropriate reaction is to swear, loudly, with gusto — he’ll pour a tray of hotdogs into his mouth, only for said hotdogs to fall through his torso. If that happened to anyone else, they’d start talking like a Sopranos shooting script. Sadly, no Ghostbusters movie to date has been brave enough to chase an adults-only rating, facilitating Slimer’s right to shout, at minimum, a solid F.
Now, a new day is set to dawn with Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Could this be the day we’ve been waiting for? Is there any chance, in other words, that Ghostbusters 4-ish is coming at us with a hard-R rating for ghost obscenity, and maybe, if we’re pushing it, Slimer’s first scene that requires an intimacy coordinator?
Will Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire be rated R?
No, probably not. At the moment, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has yet to secure an MPAA rating. That said, there are few – if any – indications that the highly anticipated sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife will crack an R rating for sensual situations and full-frontal Onionhead.
Best guess? Ghostbusters: Frozen Kingdom is coming in hot with a PG-13 rating. That’s the rating that Ghostbusters: Afterlife had. It’s the rating that the Ghostbusters from 2016 had. 1984’s Ghostbusters probably would have been PG-13, but the rating wasn’t put into use until a month after it debuted in theaters. Ghostbusters II was PG, but people were still trying to figure out what “PG-13” meant in 1989. Like, Spaceballs came out in 1987 with a hard “f” drop in its third act, and it was still rated PG. Life was more confusing back then.
Today, things are a little more straightforward. Studios that want to hedge their bets at the box office with big franchise tentpoles tend to do it with a PG-13 rating, the spicy mayo of MPAA designations: Not too intense, but with a little kick. That’ll probably be the case with Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Apologies to Slimer fans.
