Sony is to make a “clean version” of 24 movies available for family home viewing. They’ll come alongside rather than in place of the original.
For now at least, the edited versions will only be available on digital download services, namely iTunes, Vudu and Fandango Now. They’ll be free of charge to download when you purchase the unedited movie and will be included as part of the package of extras. The removed content may include “graphic violence, offensive language, sexual innuendo, and other adult content.”
It doesn’t appear Sony has done any editing specially for this program; rather the edited versions are those already produced for TV broadcast or in-flight entertainment. The company argues this will make it easier to watch movies with the whole family.
The 24 titles available at first are:
- 50 First Dates
- Battle Of The Year
- Big Daddy
- Captain Phillips
- Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
- Easy A
- Elysium
- Ghostbusters
- Ghostbusters II
- Goosebumps
- Grown Ups
- Grown Ups 2
- Hancock
- Inferno
- Moneyball
- Pixels
- Spider-Man
- Spider-Man 2
- Spider-Man 3
- The Amazing Spider-Man
- The Amazing Spider-Man 2
- Step Brothers
- Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
- White House Down
Yahoo notes that several independent companies have previously had technical and legal issues in producing their own edited versions of movies without the permission of the studios.
The news hasn’t gone down well everywhere. Seth Rogen responded by tweeting “Holy shit please don’t do this to our movies. Thanks.”