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Source: Ruby-Spears Enterprises
The year is 1985, and a movie has just come out. «Rambo: First Blood Part II» . It's an "all ages" movie, full of guns, knives, arrows—you name it. You know who shouldn't watch it? Kids. And you know who they made the John Rambo cartoon for next year? Also for kids.
Right, «Rambo: The Force of Freedom» It came out the following year, in 1986. And... it's practically plagiarism. «GI Joe» , but that's not the main thing. The main thing is For what They made a cartoon based on an R-rated series like «Rambo» ? That's when I think about a movie like «First Blood» , the first thought that comes to my mind is not "« I need to show this to my kids. ! ", and "I I can't show this is for my children ».
So why were R-rated films marketed to children back then? Let's talk about it.
Source: Kenner
It's hard to believe that R-rated movie action figures were actually sold to children.
The answer to the above question is money. Well, yes. It definitely worked. The most obvious proof of this is that I begged my dad to take me to «Terminator 2: Judgment Day, When it first came out, he took me. I was only 8 years old. I'm glad he took me. The opening scene alone, back then, at 8 years old, just blew my mind.
My dad wasn't happy. It wasn't so much the violence as the profanity—there was swearing left and right! Still, I don't blame him for thinking it was okay to take me to see this movie. After all, the toys were made for the movie, and why would they make toys FOR CHILDREN if the movie was too hard for them?
However, based on the motives many R-rated films have had toys released. For example, based on «Robocop» . Have you ever watched «Robocop» ? If not, you should watch it. It's one of the best sci-fi movies of all time. And it's also a movie where a would-be rapist gets his penis ripped off. So it's definitely Not That movie that should be turned into a children's toy. Or a cartoon. Oh, wait...
Source: Orion Pictures Corporation
Do you remember the cartoon "RoboCop"?
As a child I was crazy about Robocop , And from Terminator . Maybe it was because there was a video game where they fought each other. Or maybe it was because I watched the cartoon regularly. about Robocop . Then I knew that the film about Robocop It exists, but I haven't seen it yet. However, would you believe that some elements from the franchise and characters from the film appeared in the cartoon?
This of course made me wish watch a movie, which is what I did… while my parents were sleeping. The same can be said about «The Toxic Avenger» — which is SUPER R-rated — because Toxie had his own series called «Toxic Crusaders» . This, of course, helped with brand recognition, and I became a fan of these R-rated characters long before I should have been.
In the end, at "Tales from the Crypt"« there was even a cartoon, so, you understand, then they went too far.
Source: Sachs Family Entertainment
After all, it seems so strange today, and will most likely never happen again.
A few years ago I took my then six-year-old son to see a movie «Godzilla Minus One» , and I felt like I was a bad parent because the movie was rated PG-13… and my son was only six years old.
Overall, it wasn't bad at all, and he ended up really liking the movie. It just makes me think about how I (and many others, because every millennial I talk to has a similar story about their dads taking them to «Terminator 2 »") were, to some extent, forced to watch R-rated films.
In this day and age, when parents are so worried about their children, I doubt there will ever be a marketing campaign to attract kids to R-rated movies again. Still, it was crazy while it lasted!