PREDATOR: BADLANDS Will Be Rated PG-13 but It Promises R-Level Violence
The upcoming sci-fi action film Predator: Badlands has officially earned a PG-13 rating, but fans shouldn’t worry that this means the galaxy’s deadliest hunter is going soft.
Despite the milder rating, the movie is packing plenty of brutal carnage, just not the kind that splashes red across the screen.
Since there are not really any human characters in Predator: Badlands, the movie sidesteps the one thing that usually triggers an R-rating… human blood.
As producer Ben Rosenblatt explained to IGN, “Our hope for it is that it can be a PG-13 that feels like an R. 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.”
Rosenblatt added, “We don't have any humans in the movie and so we don't have any human red blood. 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.”
That means you can expect to see plenty of splattered alien fluids, milky synthetic goop and glowing green Predator blood, flying across the screen in glorious abundance.
Set far into the future, Predator: Badlands marks the most distant point in the Alien and Predator timeline yet. “This all takes place way in the future after everything that we know from the universe of Alien and Weyland-Yutani and Predator and Alien vs. Predator; all that stuff,” said Rosenblatt.
“This is the farthest out [the series has] gone. [And for] the tone of the movie we're trying to strike a balance between all the cool badass stuff that you'd expect out of a Predator film – lots of great action, lots of serious moments, and the badass stuff – but also we want it to be like an adventure film [where] we actually connect with the characters. So that's kind of the balance we're taking.”
The story follows Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as Dek, a young Predator outcast on a mission to prove himself to his father. His journey takes him to one of the most dangerous planets in the galaxy, where he sets out to hunt the ultimate prey.
To survive, Dek forms an unexpected alliance with Thia, a damaged Weyland-Yutani android played by Elle Fanning. At one point, Thia loses her legs, forcing Dek to carry her across the planet’s brutal landscape as the two struggle to stay alive.
According to the official synopsis: “Set in the future on a deadly remote planet, Badlands follows a young Predator outcast who finds an unlikely ally in Thia as he embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary.”
Predator: Badlands is aiming to expand the franchise with something new with an emotional, character-driven sci-fi adventure that doesn’t hold back on the intergalactic violence fans love.
Predator: Badlands opens in theaters on November 7.