Over the weekend, “Terminator Salvation” director McG and the band were at WonderCon to show the film to fans, and the question of the movie’s rating came up. McG wouldn’t really commit (which makes me think we might be looking at a PG-13 here), but according to reports, he’s previously reported to have said that he’s aiming for a “moderate R rating” with the movie.

Dark Horizon reports from WonderCon:

Ever since he’s been involved in the project, “Terminator Salvation” director McG has been coy about the film’s final rating but has certainly indicated what he shot would be essentially what he wanted and likely be along a reasonable ‘moderate R rating’ like the other films in the series.

Over the weekend however during the WonderCon panel for the film, McG revealed that the film features a topless scene with actress Moon Bloodgood who serves essentially as this film’s defacto Sarah Connor and that executives at the studio are pressuring him to cut it.

The question of course is will that shot push the film into the tougher rating and hence potentially curbed box-office. Those involved, including Bloodgood herself to reporters later in the day, say the scene is very tastefully shot and if they didn’t think it was an essential part of the story they wouldn’t have done it.

The fact that McG isn’t committing to the “moderate R” that he’s promised in the past makes me think we’re dealing with a PG-13 movie here. Not that I believe that would be a major obstacle to the film being great, but it would mean we won’t be getting the kind of violence we’re used to in the franchise.

Also, I don’t think Bloodgood’s nudity (or lack thereof) will affect the rating in any way. A pair of breasts isn’t enough to get a movie an R-rating in and of itself, so if it’s PG-13, it’ll be for toning down the violence.