Let's face it that there's nothing that could really make Basic Instinct 2 hit the charts without some hard sex in it...and yet it seems they aren't going to bank on that option now.

From IMDB comes the news that although it was an NC-17, it's now been recut to an R.

Basic Instinct 2, which sees Sharon Stone reprising her role as novelist Catherine Trammell, was originally hit with an NC-17 rating, meaning 17s and over could see it unaccompanied by an adult. But the movie has since been edited by director Michael Caton-Jones and editor John Scott to allow for a younger audience. A Sony spokesman tells the New York Daily News, "It is a hard R. It's a graphic psychological thriller. The official MPAA designation is, 'Strong sexuality, nudity, violence, language and some drug content.'"

Yeah, go on, justify it and make us believe there's some really nasty stuff to go see it...well, for Doug to go see it anyway! Actually, thinking about this now I think they've made a really good money based decision here. Let's create the hype that there's some really hard stuff in there, cut it back, and save it for a Special Edition Director's Cut, because after all there's DVD money to be made out there...isn't there?