6 Films That Deserve An R-Rated Remake

Ready your glass case of emotion for another round of Ron Burgundy. “Anchorman 2,” the sequel to the popular 2004 local news parody film, was released in theaters last year with a PG-13 rating. But two months after its original release date, a recut version of the film will return to theaters this week, with a lot more raunchy jokes and an R rating.

The new version, “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues: Super-Sized R-Rated Version,” comes out on February 28. It will be 20 minutes longer and feature a musical number that was cut from the original release.

Director Adam McKay told the New York Times he doesn’t believe the extended version is necessarily better than the first; it’s intended for hard-core Ron Burgundy fans who want to see the most outrageous version possible. And it’s obvious why the first edition was released as PG-13: That’s where the money is. In 2012, PG-13 movies made almost three times as much money as R-rated movies.

If the Anchorman 2 re-release makes a decent return, maybe a few more movie studios will consider giving some big films an R-rated makeover. Here are a few we’d like to see.

1. “The Notebook”

The original version scored a PG-13 for “some sexuality.” Let’s do it again with more of that making-out-in-the-rain and getting-it-on-in-the-old-house scene. A LOT more.

2. “Frozen”

Mostly we just want to see it re-released with this cover of “Let It Go.” A musically-inclined Tumblr parodied the song the way you know Elsa really meant it. (Warning: Lyrics are NSFW)

3. “The Hunger Games”

When it was announced that the bestselling trilogy was going to be translated to the big screen, people wondered how a movie where kids are forced to murder each other for entertainment could ever get less than an R rating. Hollywood made it happen. The first movie in the series was widely criticized for glossing over a lot of the harsh violence and gruesome reality that made the books so gritty – and so compelling. We want a re-release that’s true to the book – where Peeta kills people and those dogs at the end actually resemble the fallen recruits.

4. All of the Austin Powers movies

The original Austin Powers movies were all rated PG-13. Like “Anchorman,” these movies featured a cast of all-star improvisers. It’d be good to put them all together again and see what they can do.

Plus Beyonce. Mostly we just want more Beyonce.

5. “Pirates of the Caribbean”

They’re pirates. How is any pirate behavior appropriate for under-18 audiences? A re-release for adult audiences could feature way, way more swashbuckling, rum guzzling, and wench-chasing. Even the Disneyland ride is more eyebrow-raising than most of the movies.

6. “The Mask”

Jim Carrey’s “Mask” movie was funny and light-hearted. The graphic novel it was based on was emphatically neither of those things.

It will be interesting to see if big fans of “Anchorman” will pay to see the second movie a second time in theaters. If it’s successful, it may pave the way for more dual releases. In that case, it’s only a matter of time before “Tyler Perry Presents Tyler Perry in Madea Goes Full-Frontal” arrives at a theater near you.