Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity Receives A Rating From MPAA But No Release Date Is In Sight

By Rudie Obias | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón has been battling to get his highly anticipated science fiction epic Gravity released in theaters. The release date was earlier pushed from 2012 to 2013, and now the MPAA has given the film a PG-13 rating “for intense perilous sequences, some disturbing images and brief strong language.” Unfortunately, there’s still no telling when we’ll get to watch the movie.

Cuarón began shooting the film in 2011, with the hopes of a November 2012 release date, but then the studio behind the film, Warner Bros., pushed it to an “unscheduled 2013” release. Since the film now has an official rating from the MPAA, hopefully that means Warner Bros. may announce an official release date soon.

Although the film features big movie-star names including George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, Gravity seems like it’s more of a quiet, cerebral film rather than a loud, action-packed thrill ride. Needless to say, Gravity is a tough sell to a general audience. On the other hand, Warner Bros. is making a big gamble with Cloud Atlas, which is also an atypical science fiction film, with the hopes that audiences will show up for that film’s stars, including Tom Hanks and Halle Berry.

There was some chatter that Gravity would premiere at 2013’s Cannes Film Festival, or something more low key like at SXSW, but it’s tough to tell which direction Warner Bros. wants to take the film. Earlier this year, the studio test screened an unfinished Gravity for a general audience and the reaction was positive to mixed.

Here is the official synopsis for Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity:

Sandra Bullock plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone–tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth…and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.