Sell-Out Crowds for ‘Henry & June’ : Movies: The controversy over the new adults-only NC-17 rating also draws protesters in Santa Ana.

The controversy over the Motion Picture Assn. of America’s new NC-17 adults-only rating prompted sell-out crowds in many theaters showing Universal Pictures’ “Henry & June” and turned out protesters at two Orange County theaters.

“Henry & June,” the first movie to carry the MPAA’s new rating, grossed an estimated $850,000 at 76 theaters across the country, a hefty per-screen average of more than $11,000. Theaters locally reported several sold-out screenings.

People interviewed by Times reporters at four area theaters over the weekend revealed a wide awareness of the ratings controversy by those attending the movie and a general fear of a coming wave of explicit sex films by those protesting it.

“Intimate sexual scenes are shown as well as some things that are not suitable for R-rated movie audiences,” said Michele Edkins, an elementary school teacher protesting the NC-17 rating at the AMC MainPlace Six in Santa Ana. “We’re concerned that in a multiplex theater during an intermission, children can just go in and see an NC-17 movie.”

Randy Thomasson, 25, who showed up at the AMC MainPlace armed with stacks of anti-pornography research and carrying a sign saying “NC-17 encourages date rape,” said that “there’s good sex and there’s bad sex” and that he was concerned which “Henry & June” would promote, “especially with kids with raging hormones.”

Apparently, most of the protesters at the MainPlace Six and Edwards Bristol Four, also in Santa Ana, were encouraged by appeals from Christian talk-radio station KBRT in Costa Mesa. Cindy Avakian, the station’s 26-year-old program manager, was among the protesters and said KBRT encouraged its listeners to take a stand about “preserving morality in society.”

“I’m not protesting this particular film, but the rating in general,” said Avakian. “X-rated films mean NC-17 and X-rated films do not belong in the malls.”

Both Friday night screenings of “Henry & June,” Philip Kaufman’s account of the sexual entanglements between author Henry Miller, Anais Nin and Miller’s wife in 1931 Paris, were sold out at the Mainplace Six, and many people waiting in line were put off by the fact that none of the protesters had seen the movie.

“Like the protesters of ‘Last Temptation (of Christ),’ these people will remain ignorant,” said Bill Helmick. “They never bother to take a look at the work.”

Some of the protesters said they don’t need to see the movie to know the new rating is harmful. “There are things we just don’t need to experience--like heroin,” said Nora Garcia, one of about eight people protesting at the Bristol Four.

People leaving the theaters were divided over the quality of “Henry & June,” but none interviewed by Times reporters believed the film to be pornographic and nearly all of them said that they think the NC-17 rating is a good thing.

“I didn’t think the implied sex in (“Henry & June”) was any worse than the reams of violence in movies like the ‘Die Hards,’ ‘Rockys’ and ‘Rambos,’ ” said Nina Beyt, 49, of Montrose, who saw the film at Laemmle’s Esquire in Pasadena.

Also in Pasadena, David Overton, 26, of Los Angeles, said that “Henry & June” was more explicit than any R-rated film he had seen before but that it “is definitely not pornography.”

“NC-17 is a good idea,” said Colleen McIlroy, on her way out of a screening at Mann’s Westwood. “Adult films should be more available but a lot of good ones are stigmatized with an X rating.”

Philip Gabriel, 27, who also saw the film in Westwood, said the new rating will make things more equitable between sex and violence in films. “You go to an R-rated ‘Rambo’ film and see heads blown off, yet a sexual film is given an X because of ignorance and old-fashioned ideas,” Gabriel said. “Sex has been unfairly stigmatized over the years.”

“I wouldn’t want my 13-year-old brother to see ‘The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lov” said Matt Butler, 21, of Torrance. “But any adult should be able to see any film he or she wants.”

Despite the apparent vigilance at the Mann’s Fourplex in Westwood, one 13-year-old boy managed to get into one of the two theaters screening “Henry & June” Saturday night. The boy was with his parents and said on his way out that he thought the movie “was great.”

His parents, who declined to give their names, both said they had no problem with what their son had just seen.

Contributing to this article were Times staff writers Rose Apodaca, Elaine Dutka and David Fox.