The Hunger Games Sheds Blood And Guts For 12a Rating

The Hunger Games - one of this year's biggest movies - has qualified for a 12A rating rather than a '15', after making numerous cuts and changes. The British Board of Film Classification said in a decision posted on its website that seven seconds of footage were cut from the movie in order to achieve the revised rating.
The 12A classification means nobody younger than 12 years old may see the film in a cinema, unless accompanied by an adult. The stricter 15 rating would mean that nobody under the age of 15 may see the movie at all. The Hunger Games follows heroine Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers to take her sister's place in a televised fight-to-the-death battle. The movie is based on the first of three novels by Suzanne Collins, and the franchise is being tipped to rival the huge grossing Twilight movies. The BBFC said distributors had digitally removed the "sight of blood splashes and sight of blood on wounds and weapons" - presumably during one of the fight scenes. Some industry experts have predicted the movie could gross as much as $100 million from its opening weekend - in North American cinemas alone.
The movie's premiere took place at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on Monday evening (March 12, 2012), with stars Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth walking the red-carpet.