Media Notes / Adults Only Film Rating

No children, no X-ceptions.

Other rating systems' counterparts to this rating:

• BBFC 18 ratings
• Australian Classifiation Board R18+ ratings
• TV Parental Guidelines TV-MA ratings or Too Hot for TV
• French classification as "Forbidden under 18"

One of the age ratings of the Motion Picture Association. This rating is aimed at people who are at least eighteen years old. This is why it is termed "NC-17". It is the film equivalent of Adults Only Rating (ESRB).

The rating was first introduced in 1990 as a means of supplanting the X rating, which had been introduced alongside the rest of the MPAA film rating system in 1968 and indicated a film rejected by the Motion Picture Code and Rating Administration, only to be co-opted by pornographic filmmakers due to it not being trademarked by the MPAA; such appropriation also included exaggerations of the rating that gave rise to the now-iconic use of "XXX" to denote pornographic content (though in its original use, a triple-X denoted hardcore porn specifically; "XX" was used to denote softcore pornography, and a regular X to denote material that wasn't outright pornographic but still too adult for an R-rating). As a result, the X rating became almost exclusively associated with porn in the minds of the general public, leading the MPAA to devise "NC-17" as a means of recapturing the original intent of the X rating in a way that permitted them greater control over its usage, specifically by going out of their way to trademark it this time. The first film to be given an NC-17 rating was Henry & June in 1990; the film was originally given an X rating by the MPAA, but the introduction of NC-17 soon afterwards led to the film being released with the new rating instead.

In its original form, NC-17 only meant "no individuals below the age of 17 permitted," but was revised in 1996 to mean "no individuals at or below the age of 17 permitted," essentially becoming a more roundabout way of saying "18+". This revision marks the most recent adjustment to the MPAA rating system to date, with the standard set in 1996 still being upheld to this day.

Despite the NC-17 rating being devised to specifically cut out the association with porn that came to plague the X rating, most mainstream theaters remain highly reluctant to screen NC-17 movies and many retailers refuse to stock home video releases of them, due to the decreased earnings potential (as teenagers are typically the most reliably-profitable demographic) and the added difficulty of enforcing the age limit. As a result, NC-17, like X before it, is often subject to an antithesis of Avoid the Dreaded G Rating, in which filmmakers and producers go out of their way to censor their films to ensure that the highest rating they get is an R. Also carrying over from the days of the X rating, if a film has enough explicit content in it to warrant an NC-17 rating in theory, most of the time the distributors would instead release it "Unrated," as that designation lacks the same level of stigma as X and NC-17, leading to it being more easily distributed in theaters and on store shelves; the allure of a film being "too mature to rate" also helps in marketing it towards curious audiences.

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Films on this wiki that have been given this rating (* meaning it also has an R-rated edit; for films released before 1990 but re-rated NC-17 since then, † means it was originally released with an X rating, and ‡ means it was originally unrated):

• 100 Tears: extreme horror violence.
• Angel Heart*†: a scene of explicit sexual content
• Bad Education (2004)*: a scene of explicit sexual content
• Bad Lieutenant*: sexual violence, strong sexual situations & dialogue, graphic drug use
• Beyond the Valley of the Dolls†
• Blonde: some sexual content
• Blow Up†^note  rejected by the MPAA at the time of its release, X rating later self-applied by MGM after the rating system was established
• Blue Is the Warmest Color: explicit sexual content
• The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover*‡^note some releases rated R; while it was originally unrated, the film poster◊ features a parody of the X rating
• Crash*: numerous explicit sex scenes
• The Devils*†
• The Dreamers*: explicit sexual content
• The Evil Dead (1981)‡: substantial graphic horror violence and gore ^note  most releases are unrated, some releases carry the NC-17 rating
• Female Trouble†: explicit sexuality and nudity
• Friday the 13th*†: graphic horror violence ^note  uncut version, released internationally by Warner Bros. and on DVD in North America in 2009
• Frontier(s)^note  released unrated
• Greetings *† ^note The first film to be given an X rating, in 1968. It was later rerated R.
• Heavy Traffic*†
• Henry & June: explicit sexual content ^note  the first NC-17 rated film to be shown in theaters.
• In the Realm of the Senses†
• Killer Joe*: graphic disturbing content involving violence and sexuality, and a scene of brutality. ^note  Theatrical release only. Home Video release is Unrated and has an R-rated Cut
• Last Tango in Paris*†: some explicit sexual content
• Lucky Bastard: for explicit sexual content
• Lust, Caution*: some explicit sexuality
• Man Bites Dog: strong graphic violence
• Ms. 45*†: graphic violence, including of a sexual nature
• A Nightmare on Elm Street*†: graphic horror violence ^note  uncut version, released theatrically and on home video in selected foreign countries, only available on DVD in Turkey
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child*†: graphic horror violence ^note  uncut version, released in theatres internationally and on VHS and laser videodisc in North America
• Orgazmo: explicit sexual content and dialogue ^note  also released with a slightly extended unrated cut
• Pink Flamingos†: a wide range of perversions in explicit detail ^note  original rating surrendered by 1981
• Saw 3D*: graphic horror violence ^note  available on home video in both 2D and 3D versions, while the R-rated theatrical version was only released on home video in 2D
• A Serbian Film: extreme aberrant sexual and violent content including explicit dialogue ^note  98 minute theatrical version, 103 minute version released on Blu-Ray
• Shame: some explicit sexual content
• Showgirls*: nudity and erotic sexuality throughout, and for some graphic language and sexual violence ^note  the first and only widely released NC-17 rated film in the US.
• The Street Fighter*†: graphic martial arts violence ^note  famous as the first film with this rating solely on account of violent content; an R-rated edit was screened in many theatres and released on video first by CBS and later by New Line.
• Swearnet: some explicit sexual content, graphic nudity and for language
• This Film is Not Yet Rated : some graphic sexual content ^note  Unreleased original cut only. Final cut adds details about the film's submission for rating, and therefore is not rated.

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