There are a handful of things you’d expect from a “Predator” movie: build tension, jump scares, active camouflage, that cool three-dot laser reticle for the plasmacaster, and someone coyly referencing an Arnold Schwarzenegger one-liner. Oh, and the blood. Lots of it usually. Viscera, hyperviolence, Foley artists working overtime, the whole nine yards. That last bit generally puts you firmly in the R-Rated category, where every previous mainline “Predator” movie, from the original all the way up to “Prey,” has lived. But “Predator: Badlands” breaks that tradition.
The film is looking to receive a PG-13 rating, and hearing from director Dan Trachtenberg and producer Ben Rosenblatt, that was the goal from the start. In a still visit report published by IGN, Trachtenberg and Rosenblatt (who previously collaborated on the standout, still-produced “Prey”) explained why now is the time to dodge the R rating, as well as why they hope it won’t take anything away from the film they created.
“Our hope is that it can be a PG-13 that looks like an R,” Rosenblatt explained. The reason? “Badlands” takes place on an unstable alien planet, with the only characters being Yautja protagonist Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) and a team of Weyland-Yutani synthetics. Therefore, the film seems to feature a lot of blood and gore, but not the type – specifically, the human kind – that the MPA usually whitewashes.
A PG-13 rating for Predator: Badlands doesn’t mean it’s been compromised
It seems strange to have to stand up in the name of brutality and violence on screen. But when it comes to a franchise like “Predator” (which has built its brand on these basic pillars), some fans are bound to be nervous about the change. The announcement of a PG-13 rating target has already caused some apprehension online among longtime “Predator” loyalists, but Trachtenberg and Rosenblatt say there will be no sense of compromise from previous film entries in the property.
“We don’t have any humans in the film, and so we don’t have any human red blood,” Rosenblatt confirmed. “We’re going to go as hard as we can within these constraints, and we think we’ll be able to do some very horrible, very horrible stuff. But in colors other than red.”
The logic is sound. The trailers for “Predator: Badlands” are full of gruesome action, with Dek slashing and eliminating a wide array of alien megafauna. And as long as the film’s creatives make their promise that the film won’t feel held back by its rating, the potential benefits are massive. “Predator” has generally been marketed to a certain sci-fi/horror demographic, but a more classic sci-fi aesthetic and a PG-13 rating could open the doors for this one to bring in a whole new audience – if done right.
“[The difference] For me, it’s like, I never thought my mom should see “The Terminator,” but I thought she should see “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” Trachtenberg remarked. Creating this more accessible sense of adventure – channeled through a sympathetic Yautja protagonist – was one of the directors and collaborators’ core ambitions.
Predators has been PG-13 once before
Although every mainline “Predator” film, including this year’s animated “Killer of Killers,” has received an R rating, the Yautja have appeared in one unrated live-action release before: 2004’s “Alien vs. Predator.” And while The Sci-Fi/Horror Crossover sequel, 2007’s “Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem,” Got An R, that first film was an PG-13, and it seems oddly fitting that “Badlands” is the next “Predator” movie to carry the rating.
Recall that “Badlands” is the first formal on-screen crossover between the “Alien” and “Predator” franchises since “Requiem,” as Weyland-Yutani and his synthetic androids feature prominently in the film. It’s also worth noting that the last time Yautja violence was hit with a PG-13, they were also fighting mostly alien adversaries and avoiding a lot of “red human blood” that Rosenblatt 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 movie. Trachtenberg and Rosenblatt, on the other hand, have yet to fail when it comes to the “Predator” franchise. Now, coming off back-to-back hits with “Prey” and “Killer of Killers,” this film has a real chance to bring the property back to the big screen with a bang.
“Predator: Badlands” arrives in theaters on November 7, 2025.
