Predator: Badlands is preparing to rewrite the playbook for the long-running sci-fi franchise, in more ways than one. After the success of 2022’s Prey, which already took the series into a surprising new direction, director Dan Trachtenberg has seemingly been given the keys to the entire Predator world and has decided to continue one-upping himself along the way. With the new movie in the franchise, Trachtenberg is eschewing the structure of Predator movies in a major way by making the Badlands lead an actual Predator and not a human on the run for their survival. But that’s not the only major change.
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Though no official rating for Predator: Badlands has been confirmed yet by the MPA, the producers of the film have revealed that they’re hoping for a PG-13 distinction. IGN brought word of this change, noting that the decision was already on their minds while filming the new movie in the series. The response by Predator fans, however, has drawn curiosity and concern, but the truth of the matter is that Predator: Badlands was constructed to not draw the ire of the MPA like every other film in the series.
Predator: Badlands Is Aiming for a PG-13 Rating, But It Makes Sense
News of Predator: Badlands being PG-13 made its way to the Predator subreddit, where many were quick to shake their heads in disappointment. “I’m ok with it. I just hope the story is well-written,” one user wrote, prompting the most upvoted reply in the thread: “I’m not bruh I want CARNAGE.” The reactions didn’t end there.
“Whack, everyone who’s saying its fine is just coping,” wrote one user.
“This has Disney written all over it,” another theorized.
Ever since the first Predator film was released in 1987, the action-sci-fi series has been nothing but rated R. The original movie by John McTiernan kicked it off, with every subsequent film (even this year’s animated movie, Predator: Killer of Killers) earning the same rating. Predator films have been defined by their violence and gore for decades, so what makes Predator: Badlands different? And why should no one worry?
Producer Ben Rosenblatt has revealed that the production team had “hope” Predator: Badlands “can be a PG-13 that feels like an R.” This may seem like an oxymoron to fans of the series, but the narrative of Badlands is unique. Not only is the lead character a Predator, but unlike other movies in the series, there are no humans to be found. As a result, all the blood and guts that might fly in the film won’t be red, which, in the twisted logic of the ratings board, largely means that the blood and violence is fine for PG-13 audiences.
“We don’t have any human red blood,” Rosenblatt confirmed. “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.”
The trailers for Predator: Badlands have already confirmed that there is plenty of action to be found. Not only does the lead hunter take on a number of other alien beasts, but he comes face-to-face with some Weyland-Yutani synths on the same planet. As a result of this, the only blood that will seemingly be found in the film is the green Predator blood and the milky white synth “blood” from the Alien films, plus whatever color blood the other aliens end up having. Even with logic like that though, fans aren’t convinced, as one Redditor wrote: “That worked out really well for AVP… 🙄”
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