When your editor went to see the R-rated South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, kids demonstrated the central theme of the film by buying tickets for Tarzan and then going to see SP.

Things are about to change. Four states have considered legislation making it a crime to allow anyone under the age of 17 into such films without a parent or adult guardian into an R-rated film. Arkansas defeated a measure to criminalize the movie ratings system for this year, at least. Same goes for Utah. Legislation is still pending in Massachusetts. In March 20, the Virginia legislature passed a measure making it a Class 1 misdemeanor for a person or theater to sell a ticket for certain movies to kids under 17. The final version of the law doesn't talk about R-rated movies, but rather movies "harmful" to juveniles, an extremely difficult legal standard to meet.

Nevertheless, this is a troubling trend to both exhibitors and producers. John Fithian, President of the National Association of Theater Owners, says that exhibitors have lost millions of dollars in revenues with the latest Hollywood freeze-out. "I think it's serious when you have four different state legislatures saying, 'We're going to take your voluntary ratings system and attach criminal penalties,"Fithian told Daily Variety. "The issue hasn't gone away, it's just shifted from the feds to the states." 

Legally, there is no official sanction against theaters allowing kids into R-rated movies without an adult present. Added to this, a recent Federal Trade Commission report criticized the MPAA and NATO for doing an end-run around the ratings system, which they jointly administer.

Meanwhile, Senator Joseph Lieberman has continued his campaign against marketing violence to children by introducing The Media Marketing Accountability Act in the U.S. Senate. The purpose of the bill is to stop entertainment companies from deceptively marketing adult-rated products to children, and thus help parents better protect their kids from potentially harmful materials. Since the FTC's lawyers have concluded that the Commission's authority does not extend to this specific deceptive practice, the new bill is designed to fill that gap in the law. If the law passes, the FTC will be empowered to issue cease-and-desist order to violators or fine them up to $11,000 per day for each violation.

Jack Valenti, President of the MPAA, said that if it passes, he'll urge studios to drop the durable, three-decades-old voluntary ratings system that he helped craft. The bill defiles the Constitution, an irate Valenti told reporters. "It penalizes people who participate and gives full immunity to any producer and distributor who puts out films without a rating. I would recommend to my companies that they cannot risk prosecution. They cannot live under the shadow of this bill."