On Box-Office-Mojo’s MPAA Ratings update we finally have official confirmation that Dexter Fletcher’s “Rocketman” will indeed be rated R. The official guideline reads as follows, “Rocketman” is Rated R For language throughout, some drug use and sexual content.”
In all honesty, this sounds rather tame, actually. Looks like it's more about those mean "F words” than anything involving sex.
If you remember, Paramount were putting pressure on Fletcher to cut out a gay sex scene from the movie, which prompted Fletcher to tweet about the drama, “Seeing much speculation about ROCKETMAN!! That’s good! It’s still unfinished so it’s nothing but rumors. It has and always will be the no holds barred, musical fantasy that Paramount and producers passionately support and believe in. See for yourself May 24. Dx x.”
The decision to keep the sex scene and stick with the R rating was seen, at the time, as ballsy, especially considering “Bohemian Rhapsody” took advantage of its PG-13 rating to nab close to $1 billion worldwide. I would suspect that “Rocketman” will be deemed an immense success if it made even half of what ‘Rhapsody’ accumulated.