Australia Censorship News

Bumblebee is a 2018 USA action Sci-Fi adventure by Travis Knight.
Starring Hailee Steinfeld, Justin Theroux and Angela Bassett.

On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns this is no ordinary, yellow VW bug.

The film was originally passed 12A uncut for moderate fantasy violence for UK cinema release.

However the distributors preferred a cut PG version and the film was resubmitted shorn by about 6 secnds. The BBFC duly passed the film PG for moderate fantasy violence, mild sex references, injury detail, language.

In the US the film was Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action violence.

Update: Australia too

16th December 2018. See article from refused-classification.com

With echoes of the UK situation the Australian distributors of BumbleBee submitted the film uncut to the film censor and received an uncut M rating for moderate impact violence, mild impact themes, language Very mild drug use, sex. The M rating is an advisory 15 that would be labelled PG-15 in the US. It is the usual rating for films rated PG-13 in the US and 12A in the UK.

Like Britain the distributors preferred a local PG and resubmitted a cut version, presumably the same as the cut UK PG rated version . However it didn't cut any ice with the censor and was again M rated.

The distributors are now appealing the decision with the Review Board hoping to achieve the desired PG.

Update: Australia now PG rated too

18th December 2018. See article from classification.gov.au

The distributors were successful in their appeal for a PG rating for the pre-cut version. The review board wrote in a statement:

A three-member panel of the Classification Review Board has unanimously determined that the film Bumblebee is classified PG with the consumer advice Mild science fiction violence, mild themes, some scenes may scare young children.

The Australian Parliament has passed controversial amendments to copyright law. There will now be a tightened site-blocking regime that will tackle mirrors and proxies more effectively, restrict the appearance of blocked sites in Google search, and introduce the possibility of blocking dual-use cyberlocker type sites.

Section 115a of Australia's Copyright Act allows copyright holders to apply for injunctions to force ISPs to prevent subscribers from accessing pirate sites. While rightsholders say that it's been effective to a point, they have lobbied hard for improvements.

The resulting Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2018 contained proposals to close the loopholes. After receiving endorsement from the Senate earlier this week, the legislation was today approved by Parliament.

Once the legislation comes into force, proxy and mirror sites that appear after an injunction against a pirate site has been granted can be blocked by ISPs without the parties having to return to court. Assurances have been given, however, that the court will retain some oversight.

Search engines, such as Google and Bing, will also be affected. Accused of providing backdoor access to sites that have already been blocked, search providers will now have to remove or demote links to overseas-based infringing sites, along with their proxies and mirrors.

The Australian Government will review the effectiveness of the new amendments in two years' time.

Overlord is a 2018 USA action war horror by Julius Avery.
Starring Wyatt Russell, Bokeem Woodbine and Iain De Caestecker.

On the eve of D-Day, American paratroopers are dropped behind enemy lines to carry out a mission crucial to the invasion's success. But as they approach their target, they begin to realize there is more going on in this Nazi-occupied village than a simple military operation. They find themselves fighting against supernatural forces, part of a Nazi experiment.

Overlord has been cut in Australia for MA15+ cinema and home video release. MA15+ is something like a 15A in UK terms.

The film was originally rated R18+ uncut for: High impact violence; Strong impact themes; Moderate impact language. However distributors Paramount preferred a lower rating and a month later submitted a cut version. This was duly rated MA15+ for Strong impact themes, violence; Moderate impact language:

For comparison:

• UK: Passed 18 uncut for strong bloody violence, gory images
• US: Rated R uncut for strong bloody violence, disturbing images, language, and brief sexual content.

Update: Overrule

20th November 2018. From MediaCensorshipInAustralia Facebook Page

Paramount Australia has confirmed that after a change of heart, OVERLORD will be screened in the original R 18+ version in cinemas after all. Village Cinemas have changed their earlier MA 15+ rating for the coming soon listing to R 18+.

A comment on Paramount's Facebook page suggest there's a chance that the MA 15+ version was just an option being considered.