A24 Combats ‘Eighth Grade’ R Rating by Setting Up ‘No-Rating-Enforced’ Screenings In All 50 States

A24 has announced 50 “no-rating-enforced” screenings of Bo Burnham‘s acclaimed “Eighth Grade” will take place during the evening of Wednesday, August 8. The studio partnered with one theater in every state across America for the screenings, which will allow eighth grade students and teenagers below 18 years old to see the movie on the big screen without needing parental guidance. The MPAA gave “Eighth Grade” an R rating for “language and some sexual material.”

As IndieWire’s Chris O’Falt reported when “Eighth Grade” opened last month, the film earned an R rating for featuring the word “fuck” five times. MPAA allows feature films to get away with a PG-13 rating if “fuck” is said once, but any more than that results in a R rating. Numerous film critics and moviegoers took issue with the mature “Eighth Grade” rating because it prevented actual eight graders from seeing the film (and, as the movie honestly shows, eighth graders are no strangers to curse words anyways).

A24 has released a complete list of the 50 movie theaters participating in the “no-rating-enforced” screenings of “Eighth Grade” this Wednesday. While it’s not unheard of for speciality theaters to release R rated movies without a rating (New York City’s IFC Center did just that with “Blue Is the Warmest Color” and “Boyhood”), the fact A24 managed to partner with major theater chains such as AMC, Regal, and Cinemark to issue an unrelated screening of the movie is significant.

“Eight Grade” is now playing in theaters nationwide. Check out Burnham and star Elsie Fisher announce the unrated screenings in the video below.