The MPAA Doesn't Want You to Watch the Trailer for "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning" Until 10PM. Why? Read on.

[This is not the official Wednesday blog entry. I still leave that open for Peggy. This is more like one from yesterday, or perhaps even the day before yesterday. I fully expect a Peggy blog to go up sometime today. You'll see.]

I went to Quicktime.com this morning, catching up on movie trailers as I do, and I clicked on Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. I went to the page where I would select the image size of the trailer, and discovered that I couldn't watch it. Not because I was incapable, or because my computer was messing up, but because of something else. I wasn't allowed. Click the link -- you'll see what I'm talking about.

A post on Aintitcool.com explained the whole thing. The trailer forTexas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning was rated by the MPAA with a green band -- meaning the MPAA deemed the trailer suitable for all audiences. That's expected. Red-band trailers don't show up too often. But the MPAA added a caveat to this green-band trailer: New Line cannot offer it for viewing on the internet, ostensibly because children might see it.

New Line went back to the MPAA and asked if the MPAA would please please let them play it on the internet. The MPAA said, ok, but only between the hours of 10PM and 4AM. So. the end result is this: you can't watch the trailer on New Line's site because the MPAA is worried you might not be old enough. When I first saw the restriction, I thought it was a bit of clever marketing from New Line: as if they wanted the trailer to be enjoyed only after the sun had gone down, perhaps to ratchet up the scary. But the fact that the MPAA is the culprit says a lot about the power of that organization, and what I think is overreaching in this case. Aintitcool says the MPAA describes itself as an "advisory board", but it seems like something a whole lot worse than that. Is there a way to get rid of the MPAA?

Anyway, even after all this fuss, you can view the trailer here on WWTDD, and I'm sure at other places, too. It's a decent enough horror movie trailer, and it makes me almost want to see it which makes me suspect that, perhaps, New Line and the MPAA are working together to create buzz for the movie. I'm sure I wouldn't have written anything if they hadn't told me I couldn't watch their trailer until 10PM tonight. I'll let you know how it develops, if it does.

In other news, some cool new blog entries from Craig Moorhead, Mike Moran, and, for those a new topic is up for this month's Smackdown. I'm out.