When a movie is re-released to theaters does it have to go through the ratings process again? Would Logan’s Run still automatically still be rated PG despite the nudity? Or would it have to be re-rated? If movies don’t have to be re-rated do special editions have to be re-rated like *Star Wars[/i[ which had additional material?
The ratings system is entirely voluntary. No film is required to go through the ratings process and no film upon re-release is required to be re-rated. Films go through the ratings process because many theatres won’t book unrated films and many newspapers won’t advertise them. There have been a few films released unrated which got some distribution but none of the names are coming to me off the top of my head.
You can’t use the MPAA ratings (other than X) without going through the rating process. If you rereleased a version of a film that was different from the original, you’d have to get a new rating.
You can rerelease a film with its original rating if it’s unchanged. Still, you may still want to ask for a rerating (For instace, Midnight Cowboy was originally rated X, but later rereleased with an R rating simply because the definition had changed).
If you change the film, you probably have to get MPAA approval to list its rating. They don’t want you to put a hot Sex scene in “The Muppet Movie,” for instance.