The upcoming science-fiction horror sequel, Predator: Badlands, shocked fans this week with the reveal that the movie has been rated PG-13. That makes the impending sequel only the second movie in the entirety of the Predator franchise to receive anything less than an R-rating, with the first being Paul W.S. Anderson’s Alien vs. Predator from 2004. That crossover was received less than glowingly by fans at the time, and has continued to bear a divisive reception ever since, with many pointing to its PG-13 rating as a key weakness of the film. So why is Predator: Badlands returning to this more family-friendly rating? As it turns out, there’s a pretty simple explanation.
Ever since John McTiernan’s original film debuted in 1987, the Predator franchise has been synonymous with high-octane action, gory kills, and iconic lines with plenty of swearing. As such, it’s no surprise that the overwhelming majority of entries in the series have not only been rated R, but have even encountered various disputes with the MPAA over receiving that rating and not an NC-17. This is, after all, a movie series about an alien species who comes to Earth to hunt humans for sport, and has a penchant for skinning and claiming the skulls of its victims. Thus, gore is a common denominator across the Predator films.
So how is Predator: Badlands going to deliver that level of gore with a PG-13 rating? Well, Alien vs. Predator is actually a great example to look in terms of how director Dan Trachtenberg is going to be Trojan Horsing in some substantial blood, guts, and violence in the upcoming film. Alien vs. Predator had no shortage of gore effects, but the overwhelming majority of it was from various alien creatures. While the extent of violence that the film could get away with inflicting on human characters was compromised, the creature-on-creature action was free to be full-throttle the whole way through. Consider this in the context of Predator: Badlands, a film that has no human characters in it.
For the first time in franchise history, the protagonist of the film is going to be a Yautja, who is set to be facing off against Weyland-Yutani androids and other alien creatures. Because of this, the film can feature all the gore and violence it wants without necessarily flagging any of the MPAA’s established rules and regulations. For example, Trachtenberg’s prior live-action Predator film, Prey, was rated R for “strong bloody violence,” but those same credentials, even if they are more extreme, would not render Predator: Badlands as an R-rated film.
“We'll see where it ends up, but our hope for it is that it can be a PG-13 that feels like an R,” Producer Ben Rosenblatt told IGN. "That's kind of our hope. And really, what that's about is just being able to broaden out the audience for a movie like this.”
“We don't have any humans in the movie and so we don't have any human red blood,” he added. “So we're hoping that's gonna play to our advantage. We're going to go as hard as we possibly can within those constraints, and we think we'll be able to do some pretty awesomely gruesome stuff. But in colours other than red.”
Is Predator: Badlands also rated PG-13 for financial reasons? I’m sure the fact that its by far the biggest budgeted Predator film ever and is swinging for mass audience appeal played a role in the considerations of the rating, but I’d also be willing to bet that it wasn’t the primary reason. Dan Trachtenberg is a great filmmaker who has more than demonstrated his willingness to stick to his guns and deliver some of the best Predator stories audiences have ever seen between Prey and this year’s animated film, Predator: Killer of Killers. As such, he’s more than earned my faith for Predator: Badlands, regardless of what it is rated.
Predator: Badlands releases in theaters on November 7.