Star Wars: The Force Awakens handed PG-13 rating in US
Certification suggests JJ Abrams’s movie could be on a par with final George Lucas prequel Revenge of the Sith in terms of ‘sci-fi action violence’
Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been given a US rating of PG-13, suggesting the film will be in line with mainstream blockbusters such as Avengers: Age of Ultron, Jurassic World and The Hunger Games franchise.
The original Star Wars movies released between 1977 and 1983 were all rated PG for parental guidance in the US, at a time when the PG-13 did not exist. JJ Abrams’s space opera was handed the certificate by ratings body the Motion Picture Association of America due to scenes of “sci-fi action violence”. It requires younger children to be accompanied by an adult and highlights that some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
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There is a fillip for Star Wars fans hoping for a more adult tilt to the saga. The 2005 Star Wars prequel Revenge of the Sith, widely considered the darkest of George Lucas’s later films, also received a PG-13. The other prequels got a PG.
The fact that The Force Awakens film is being rated at all backs up Abrams’s recent confirmation that the film has been completed ahead of its release on 17 December in the UK and a day later in US cinemas. The first new Star Wars movie in a decade is widely expected to become the year’s highest-grossing film and some bookmakers have stopped taking bets on it surpassing Avatar’s $2.7bn (£1.8bn) to become the highest-grossing movie of all time.
The Force Awakens has not yet been rated by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), the UK’s ratings body.