Predator: Badlands' Age Rating Will Leave Fans Confused (But It Makes Sense)

There are a handful of things you expect from a "Predator" movie: building tension, jump scares, active camouflage, that cool three-dot laser reticle for the plasmacaster, and somebody coyly referencing an Arnold Schwarzenegger one-liner. Oh, and blood. Lots of it typically. Viscera, hyperviolence, foley artists working overtime, the whole nine yards. That last bit typically puts you firmly in the R-rated category, where every previous mainline "Predator" film, from the original all the way down to "Prey," has lived. But "Predator: Badlands" is breaking that tradition.

The movie looks to receive a PG-13 rating, and to hear director Dan Trachtenberg and producer Ben Rosenblatt tell it, that was the goal from early on. In a set visit report published by IGN, Trachtenberg and Rosenblatt (who previously collaborated on the exceptional and still-underrated "Prey") discussed why this was the time to dodge the R-rating, as well as why they hope this won't take anything away from the film that they've created.

"Our hope for it is that it can be a PG-13 that feels like an R," Rosenblatt explained. The reason? "Badlands" takes place on an unsettled alien planet, with the only characters being the Yautja protagonist Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) and a squad of Weyland-Yutani synthetics. Hence, the movie looks to feature plenty of blood and gore, but not the type – specifically, the human kind — that the MPA typically blanches at.

It feels odd to have to stand up on behalf of brutality and violence on screen. But when it comes to a franchise like "Predator" (which built its brand on those core pillars), some fans are bound to be nervous around change. The announcement of a PG-13 rating target has already caused some trepidation online among longtime "Predator" loyalists, but Trachtenberg and Rosenblatt claim there will be no feeling of compromise compared to previous movie entries in the property.

"We don't have any humans in the movie, and so we don't have any human red blood," Rosenblatt confirmed. "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 colors other than red."

The logic is sound. The "Predator: Badlands" trailers are full of gruesome action, with Dek slicing up and taking down a wide range of extraterrestrial megafauna. And as long as the film's creatives make good on their promise that the movie won't feel held back by its rating, the potential benefits are massive. "Predator" has typically been marketed to a certain sci-fi/horror demographic, but a more classic sci-fi aesthetic and a PG-13 rating could open the gates for this one to bring in a whole new audience — if done right.

"[The difference] for me is like, I never thought my mom should see 'The Terminator,' but I did think she should see 'Terminator 2: Judgement Day,'" Trachtenberg remarked. Creating that more accessible sense of adventure — channeled through a sympathetic Yautja protagonist — was one of the director and his collaborators' core ambitions from the jump.

Though every mainline "Predator" movie, including this year's animated "Killer of Killers," has received an R-rating, the Yautja have appeared in a non-R-rated live-action outing before: 2004's "Alien vs. Predator." And while the sequel to the sci-fi/horror crossover, 2007's "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem," got an R, that first film was a PG-13, and it feels strangely appropriate that "Badlands" would be the next "Predator" movie to carry the rating.

Recall that "Badlands" is the first formal onscreen crossover between the "Alien" and "Predator" franchises since "Requiem," as Weyland-Yutani and its synthetic androids feature prominently in the film. It's also interesting to note that the last time Yautja violence got hit with a PG-13, they were also fighting primarily alien opponents and avoiding a lot of the "red human blood" that Rosenblatt noted is absent from "Badlands."

The hope, of course, is that "Badlands" does a lot more with its PG-13. "Alien vs. Predator" has its fans, but it's not a great film. Trachtenberg and Rosenblatt, on the other hand, have yet to misfire when it comes to the "Predator" franchise. Now, coming off back-to-back hits with "Prey" and "Killer of Killers," this movie has a real shot at bringing the property back to the big screen with a bang.

"Predator: Badlands" arrives in theaters on November 7, 2025.