IESB reported that Warner Brothers is “skittish” about losing money on R rated films that could be PG-13 and technically “family-friendly.”

The Dark Knight, a WB film and a superhero film grossed $1,001,842,429 worldwide with a PG-13 rating. Iron Man grossed $582,030,528 worldwide and it, too, had a PG-13 rating. Watchmen, one of the highly anticipated films of the decade based on one of the greatest graphic novels in existence grossed $55 million in its opening weekend and dropped off more than 50% in the following weeks. Not only that, but The Dark Knight and Iron Man merchandise exploded to make even more money, there were very few Watchmen merchandising opportunities to capitalize on. WB took note of this word has it that WB will do their best not to make tentpole superhero films rated R, despite what fans or anyone else wants. To the WB, money is money.

This seems pretty terrible for the fans, but there are few other superhero movies that actually need to be rated R. Watchmen was the one that really counts, but few other tentpole superhero films are as dark and gritty. IESB also reported that Jonah Hex, even though its a comic book movie, could still have an R rating because it isn’t necessarily a “superhero” movie.

We’ll see if Warner Brothers actually goes through with all this, but considering the amounts of money involved, I would not be surprised.

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