Media Notes / Adults Only Film Rating

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One of the age ratings of the Motion Picture Association. This rating is aimed only at people that are at least eighteen years old, and children seventeen years and younger are not allowed to be admitted into films that bear this rating. This is why it is termed "NC-17". It is the film equivalent of the Entertainment Software Rating Board's Adults Only Rating.

The rating was first introduced in 1990 as a means of supplanting the X rating, which had been introduced alongside the rest of the MPAA film rating system in 1968 and indicated a film rejected by the Motion Picture Code and Rating Administration, only to be co-opted by pornographic filmmakers due to it not being trademarked by the MPAA^note (This was not an oversight on their part—the original intention for the ratings system was to have three ratings, G, M, and R. Concerns raised by the National Organization of Theater Owners (NATO) about prosecutions of theaters for showing obscenity to minors caused the MPAA to include the adults-only rating. They had envisioned it as something that could be self-applied by producers who knew their work wouldn't pass muster for a lower rating. The MPAA just was thinking more in terms of Midnight Cowboy than Deep Throat.); such appropriation also included exaggerations of the rating that gave rise to the now-iconic use of "XXX" to denote pornographic content (though in its original use, a triple-X denoted hardcore porn specifically; "XX" was used to denote softcore pornography, and a regular X to denote material that wasn't outright pornographic but still too adult for an R-rating). As a result, the X rating became almost exclusively associated with porn in the minds of the general public, leading the MPAA to devise "NC-17" as a means of recapturing the original intent of the X rating in a way that permitted them greater control over its usage, specifically by going out of their way to trademark it this time. The first film to be given an NC-17 rating was Henry & June in 1990; the film was originally given an X rating by the MPAA, but the introduction of NC-17 soon afterwards led to the film being released with the new rating instead.

In its original form, NC-17 only meant "no individuals below the age of 17 permitted," but was revised in 1996 to mean "no individuals at or below the age of 17 permitted," essentially becoming a more roundabout way of saying "18+". This revision marks the most recent adjustment to the MPAA rating system to date, with the standard set in 1996 still being upheld to this day.

Despite the NC-17 rating being devised to specifically cut out the association with porn that came to plague the X rating, most mainstream theaters remain highly reluctant to screen NC-17 movies and many retailers refuse to stock home video releases of them, due to the decreased earnings potential (as teenagers are typically the most reliably-profitable demographic) and the added difficulty of enforcing the age limit. As a result, NC-17, like X before it, is often subject to an antithesis of Avoid the Dreaded G Rating, in which filmmakers and producers go out of their way to censor their films to ensure that the highest rating they get is an R.^note Notable examples of films that had to be edited to avoid an NC-17 rating include Scream (1996), American Pie, American Psycho, The Boondock Saints, Pulp Fiction, the first volume of Kill Bill, Sausage Party, Basic Instinct, The Godfather Part III, Casino', Boys Don't Cry (1999), South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and Clerks

Also carrying over from the days of the X rating, if a film has enough explicit content in it to warrant an NC-17 rating in theory, most of the time the distributors would instead release it "Unrated," as that designation lacks the same level of stigma as X and NC-17, leading to it being more easily distributed in theaters and especially on store shelves; the allure of a film being "too mature to rate" also helps in marketing it towards curious audiences.^note  Some notable examples of films released unrated instead of opting for an NC-17 rating include Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Kids, Happiness, Perfect Blue, The Center of the World, The House That Jack Built, the Art the Clown series, 31, The Toxic Avenger (2025), Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, and Pillion.

In short, because of the stigma attached to the rating, while nearly half of all films rated by the MPA are rated R, only 93 films have ever received an NC-17 and kept it for its release.

Films on this wiki that have been given this rating (* meaning it also has an R-rated edit; for films released before 1990 but re-rated NC-17 since then, † means it was originally released with an X rating, and ‡ means it was originally unrated):

• 100 Tears: extreme horror violence.
• Bad Education (2004)*: a scene of explicit sexual content
• Bad Lieutenant*: sexual violence, strong sexual situations & dialogue, graphic drug use
• Beyond the Valley of the Dolls†
• Blonde: some sexual content
• Blow Up† ^note  rejected by the MPAA at the time of its release, X rating later self-applied by MGM after the rating system was established
• Blue Is the Warmest Color: explicit sexual content
• The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover*‡ ^note  some releases rated R; while it was originally unrated, the film poster◊ features a parody of the X rating
• Crash*: numerous explicit sex scenes
• The Dreamers*: explicit sexual content
• The Evil Dead (1981)‡: substantial graphic horror violence and gore ^note  most releases are unrated, some releases carry the NC-17 rating
• Female Trouble†: explicit sexuality and nudity
• Fritz the Cat†
• Frontier(s)^note  released unrated
• Greetings *† ^note The first film to be given an X rating, in 1968. It was later rerated R.
• Henry & June: explicit sexual content ^note  the first NC-17 rated film to be shown in theaters.
• In the Realm of the Senses†
• Killer Joe*: graphic disturbing content involving violence and sexuality, and a scene of brutality. ^note  Theatrical release only. Home Video release is Unrated and has an R-rated Cut
• Last Tango in Paris*†: some explicit sexual content
• Lucky Bastard: for explicit sexual content
• Lust, Caution*: some explicit sexuality
• Ma mère: strong and aberrant sexual content
• Man Bites Dog*: strong graphic violence ^note  the film's lone home video release, via The Criterion Collection, omits the NC-17 from the packaging, but is still listed on the MPA's website as still having the rating.
• Matador‡: aberrant sexuality including violence ^note  originally released unrated; rated NC-17 in 2005 for a theatrical rerelease
• Orgazmo: explicit sexual content and dialogue ^note  also released with a slightly trimmed unrated cut which features alternate takes
• Pink Flamingos†: a wide range of perversions in explicit detail ^note  original rating surrendered by 1981; re-rated NC-17 for its 25th anniversary rerelease in 1997
• Santa Sangre*: several scenes of extremely explicit violence
• A Serbian Film: extreme aberrant sexual and violent content including explicit dialogue ^note  98 minute theatrical version, 103 minute version released on Blu-Ray
• Shame: some explicit sexual content
• Showgirls*: nudity and erotic sexuality throughout, and for some graphic language and sexual violence ^note  the first and only widely released NC-17 rated film in the US. The "Special Sneak Preview" VHS, which was distributed to video sale and rental stores as part of its marketing campaign, was also rated NC-17 for "strong sexual images".
• The Street Fighter*†: graphic martial arts violence ^note  famous as the first film with this rating solely on account of violent content; an R-rated edit was screened in many theatres and released on video first by CBS and later by New Line.
• Swearnet: some explicit sexual content, graphic nudity and for language
• This Film is Not Yet Rated : some graphic sexual content ^note  Unreleased original cut only. Final cut adds details about the film's submission for rating, and therefore is not rated.
• Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!: strong adult sensuality with nudity
• Tropic of Cancer*†: strong language and sex-related dialogue ^note  The first film to be rated X solely for language; rated NC-17 in 1992 for a theatrical rerelease.