The 2002 Scooby-Doo movie hit theaters with family-friendly content, but as it has long been suggested that was not the original idea.
Rumors said that the film was initially R-rated, meaning that children under 17 would have to be accompanied by an adult in order to watch it. But now we have confirmation from James Gunn himself that this is true.
That would be #ReleasetheGosnellCut since Raja Gosnell was the director (& is an exceedingly nice guy.) Yes, the first MPAA rating was R, but it was only because of one stupid joke the MPAA misinterpreted. https://t.co/Bz8M2LoOcS
The director of Guardians of the Galaxy and Suicide Squad confirmed through his Twitter account that Scooby-Doo was going to have an R rating, in addition to that fact, a PG-13 version exists, which means that it has content not suitable for children under 13 years of age.
The movie was originally meant to be PG-13 & was cut down to PG after like 3 parents were outraged at a test screening in Sacramento. The studio decided to go a more family friendly route.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 31, 2020
Gunn was the screentwriter of Scooby-Doo, and mentions that the R-rated version should not be called “Gunn Cut” as it has been dubbed by fans, but should be referred to as “Gosnell Cut” since Raja Gosnell was the director.
On his post, Gunn indicated that the United States Cinematographic Association granted the R classification to the original version for what he says was a “stupid joke that was misunderstood”, and after that they decided to make it PG-13, but in a Projection test There were some parents who were bothered by it, so the production finally decided to go for a PG rating, that is to say with content for children 10 years and older.
Within the scenes that were removed, language and sexual references are mentioned, including a kiss between Daphne and Velma. In addition to the fact that cleavage was hidden with CGI. In a humorous way Gunn points out that fortunately the farts stayed.
Language and jokes and sexual situations were removed, including a kiss between Daphne and Velma. Cleavage was CGI’d over. But, thankfully, the farting remained.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 31, 2020
Scooby-Doo was well received by fans and has a cast that includes Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini, Matthew Lillard and Freddie Prinze Jr.
I thought at the time the rating change was a mistake. I felt like a lot of teens came out for the first film and didn’t get what they wanted (and didn’t come back for the sequel). But today I don’t know. So many young kids loved those movies, which is pretty cool.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 31, 2020
