"Fifty Shades of Grey" awaits rating in S'pore

5 Feb – "Fifty Shades of Grey" is one of the most anticipated movies this year, but it is definitely not a movie for all ages.

With only a week away from its 12 February 2015 official Singapore release, the movie is still yet to be rated.

Recently, the movie received an 18 rating from the British Board of Film Classification, a considerably stricter rating compared to the R rating from Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) last month. Meanwhile in Singapore, the movie is still awaiting its official rating from the Media Development Authority (MDA).

Given its risqué elements, the expected rating for the movie is R21.

This means that in the US, anyone under the age of 18 will get to watch the movie if accompanied by adults; in the UK, only those above the age of 18 will be allowed to watch it; and in Singapore, if it were to receive an R21 rating, nobody under the age of 21 will be admitted into the cinemas for it.

The movie was also recently banned in Malaysia after the local censorship board deemed its content unsuitable for Malaysian audiences.

Some of the more recent R21 movies that were shown in Singapore include last year's South Korean erotic thriller film "Obsessed" and David Fincher's "Gone Girl", and there are two R21 movies currently showing, South Korean noir action film "Gangnam Blues" and Jennifer Lopez-starrer "The Boy Next Door".

"Fifty Shades of Grey" is set to premiere as a Berlinale Special Gala at the Berlin Film Festival on 11 February and will open in North American cinemas on 13 February 2015.

The erotic romance movie sees Dakota Johnson starring as Anastasia Steele, who falls for the wealthy Christian Grey, played by Jamie Dornan, and soon discovers – and partakes in – Mr. Grey's deep, dark secrets.