Sony Pictures is rolling back the ‘Clean Version’ of its films. The initiative was announced earlier this month, geared for customers who like films that do not have “scenes of graphic violence, offensive language, sexual innuendo and other adult content”. 24 of the studio’s films, including Spider-Man, Captain Phillips, were made available under the scheme.
Following objections from filmmakers Adam McKay, Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen, the company has cancelled the initiative.
In a statement, the president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Man Jit Singh said: “Our directors are of paramount importance to us and we want to respect those relationships to the utmost. We believed we had obtained approvals from the filmmakers involved for use of their previously supervised television versions as a value-added extra on sales of the full version. But if any of them are unhappy or have reconsidered, we will discontinue it for their films.”
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The company is said to have acted after it emerged that director Adam McKay was not aware that two of his films, Step Brothers and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, had been included in the initiative.
Sony’s move has proved to be controversial. Soon after news broke of this, Seth Rogen, who has made several films with Sony, tweeted:
“Holy shit, please don’t do this to our movies. Thanks.”
Director Judd Apatow also disapproved and said that the company would get “hell” for the initiative.