KABC reports that Michael Moore and Lions Gate Films have lost their appeal today to lower the "R" rating for the scathing anti-Bush doco "Fahrenheit 9/11". LG confirms that an appeals board for the Motion Picture Association of America rejected their request to reduce the rating to PG-13. This rating prohibits those 17 and younger from seeing "Fahrenheit 9/11" without an adult.

Moore urged younger teenagers to go see the film anyway. "I encourage all teenagers to come see my movie, by any means necessary. If you need me to sneak you in, let me know," he revealed.

The movie was rated R for "violent and disturbing images and for language." The images include an Iraqi man tossing a dead baby into a truckload of bodies, Iraqis burned by napalm and a public beheading in Saudi Arabia.

Tom Ortenberg, president of Lions Gate Films, had argued to the appeals board that 15- and 16-year-olds should be free to see the film on their own because they could end up in military service in Iraq in the next few years.

"I hope the R rating doesn't have a large impact on the box office," Ortenberg said. "I've spoken with many parents, including some on the appeals board, who absolutely said they are going to take their children to see the film. We'll just have to hope the teenagers we're encouraging to see this picture find their way in through parents or adult guardians."

Thanks to 'Raterroute'