'Austin Powers' Loses Title Bout To James Bond

Posted Monday, January 28, 2002 at 4:51 PM Central

by John Couture

He may be groovy, baby, but Austin Powers is in hot water with the MPAA. Apparently, MGM has drawn the line over how far New Line can go in their spoof of MGM's James Bond franchise. And the MPAA has sided with MGM.

Last Friday, New Line told exhibitors to stop playing the Goldmember trailer and to take down and destroy any advance posters. The reason for such a radical declaration was that they weren't happy with the marketing strategy and were going in another direction.

But the truth has more to do with MGM's concerns. The MPAA ruled that the title Goldmember was "inadmissable" due to various concerns. New Line is appealing the ruling, but in the meantime, Goldmember is out and Austin Powers 3 is in.

You just know that Mike Myers will find some way to turn this into a running gag in "Austin Powers 4."