LITTLE BOY, a unique story that families will embrace lost an appeal today with the MPAA over the PG-13 rating. Read the Hollywood Reporter story below to find out more. You can watch the trailer at www.LittleBoyMovie.com.

LITTLE BOY is a powerful and moving film about a little boy who is willing to do whatever it takes to bring his dad home from World War II alive. The heartwarming story will capture your heart and lift your spirits as it reveals the indescribable love a little boy has for his father and the love a father has for his son. Set in the 1940s, LITTLE BOY is an instant cinematic classic that captures the wonder of life through the eyes of a 7-year-old little boy. Written directed by Smithsonian Institute Award winning director Alejandro Monteverde, LITTLE BOY highlights themes of faith, hope and love in the face of adversity.

A moviegoing experience for all ages, LITTLE BOY features an all-star cast/crew including Oscar nominated actors Emily Watson and Tom Wilkinson as well as Ben Chaplin, Michael Rapaport, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Ted Levine, David Henrie, Eduardo Verastegui and newcomer Jakob Salvati (the seven-year-old lead actor who delivered an extraordinary, Oscar caliber performance). The film is directed by Smithsonian Institute Award winning director Alejandro Monteverde (BELLA) from a screenplay by Monteverde and Pepe Portillo.  Executive produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett (Son of God, upcoming NBC series A.D. and Paramount’s remake of Ben-Hur), the film is produced by Eduardo Verastegui, Leo Severino, Alejandro Monteverde, Emilio Azcarraga (Televisa/Univision), Bernardo Gomez (Televisa), Micky Ohare and Sean Wolfington.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mark-burnett-roma-downey-lose-765753

Mark Burnett and Roma Downey Lose Rating Appeal for Family Film

Little Boy” will retain a PG-13 rating, the MPAA ruled on Wednesday

by Paul Bond

1/21/2015

Little Boy, a family film executive produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, has lost an appeal for a PG rating, the MPAA said Wednesday.

The MPAA’s Classification and Rating Administration said the movie, about a little boy dealing with the absence of his father during World War II, had too much violence to be rated PG, so it will therefore be rated PG-13 when Open Road Films releases it in April.

The filmmakers made several short edits to the movie after the MPAA informed them weeks ago that the movie would be rated PG-13, but those tweaks did not satisfy those who were charged with rating the movie.

The next course of action was to appeal the rating, which the filmmakers did. They screened the film and presented their case to the powers that be, but they lost their appeal on Wednesday.

Burnett and Downey, the married couple behind massively successful The Bible Miniseries as well as its upcoming sequel, have been pursuing family films with inspirational messages, but some involved with the project see the PG-13 rating as an unexpected hindrance to the marketing of this particular movie.

“We set out to make a film that the entire family could enjoy together — from kids to grandparents,” said producer Eduardo Verastegui. “Our goal from the very beginning was for it to be PG and we honestly feel we have done that.”

Ironically, conservative media entrepreneur Glenn Beck recently enthusiastically recommended Little Boy to family audiences and compared it to something Walt Disney (“the man, not the company”) would have created.

“Grab your spouse, your kids, go on a date, go alone or bring a friend and their family. Just see this film,” Beck said.

While the MPAA referred only to “thematic material including violence,” insiders say that those rating the movie objected to scenes of bigotry aimed at a Japanese man in the U.S. during the war as well as implied cruelty inflicted on a U.S. soldier by the Japanese.

“Hollywood’s idea of what is objectionable content is very different from the Americans I meet when I travel across America,” said Verastegui, who also plays a priest in the film.

“The parents that I know are tired of having their kids saturated with sex, violence and disrespectful behavior. Our movie has none of that,” he said.