PT Would TPM or AOTC be rated PG-13 if they came out today?

I've noticed that every Star Wars film that came after AOTC (the clone wars doesn't count) has been rated PG-13. It makes sense for ROTS due to the immolation scene and the increased bloodshed (every duel has a violent end except for yoda v sidious) but It doesn't seem like the disney films are particularly more violent or dark compared to the first two prequels.

Looking back on it, TPM has some scenes of intense violence, as Darth Maul is literally cut in half and Qui-Gon is stabbed.

AOTC has Anakin beheading Tuskens and then killing more violently offscreen. Geonosians are sliced and diced into bits. The most absolute brutal scene is when Mace kills Jango.

As a child I didn't think much of it, but I saw the scene again recently and found myself disturbed by it. It's just such a quick and absolutely cold/ruthless kill by Mace.



Why do you think the first two prequels were rated PG, and do you think that would change in today's moviegoing world?

 

Probably. The standard for PG-13 is different now than it was in 1999/2002. TPM might still be able to get away with PG, but I wouldnt be too shocked if it got a PG-13 rating.

AOTC tho would definitely be PG-13. The violence/content in AOTC is on par with modern SW films.

-opening up with a terrorist attack
-The centipedes that try to kill Padme
-A bar with SW's first reference to drug usage (deathsticks)
-Zam Wesell's face change
-Shmi's death and Anakin brutally killing 3 Tuskens on screen
-The Jango/Obi-Wan hand to hand combat fight
-Anakin's monologue after killing the Tuskens
-Anakin slicing up Geonosians to reveal gory insides and details.
-Jango's decapitated corpse falling down.
-Jedi killed in arena.

It certainly was pushing the envelope for PG even back in 2002.

 

I concur. They would be rated PG-13 today for the reasons Deliveranze listed. I believe TPM would be rated PG-13 primarily for how Darth Maul slew Qui-Gon.

 

I think AOTC definitely would be. Violence wise the Obi-Wan and Anakin vs Dooku duel is on roughly the same level of violence as TFA's end battle.

TPM is generally pretty tame apart from Qui-Gon's stabbing. Given that all 5 movies released under Disney so far have had stabbings of some kind, it's possible that this might affect it's rating though.

 

Seems like PG-13 is what studios aim for; they’ll go out of their way to bump a film up or down to get there. The original Star Wars was in danger of being G rated, and had more violent pickup shots added to secure the PG rating.

So yeah, I totally think those films would have a PG-13 rating to be more marketable. The content itself is more arbitrary

 

If I remember correctly AOTC almost got a PG-13 rating due the Headbutt that Jango gives Obi Wan

 

I really don't think so. The new films are rated PG-13 because they're more intense than most of the earlier films. The scene in TFA where Kylo Ren is graphically torturing Poe is enough to give it a PG-13 rating. Plus the scenes on the capital planet of crowds of people panicking and anticipating their impending death as the superlaser pierces the atmosphere. There's similar stuff in the other sequels that doesn't approach anything in any of the original films save ROTS. All the violence mentioned in the OP is pretty attenuated and intentionally toned down to blunt its effect. There's little to no blood and the worst violence is left off-screen. Even ROTS goes out of its way to make Anakin's immolation as sanitized as possible without cheating the story (if you look at the behind-the-scenes pictures of the prosthetics Hayden wore it's way more gruesome than Lucas ultimately allowed to be apparent on screen).

I don't think the times have changed. The sequels were simply made with a more adult audience in mind.

 

AOTC for sure, TPM maybe. On the flip side, I think the only Disney star wars movie that deserves a PG-13 based on the ratings for the original six movies would be Rogue One.

I'm not sure though if it's more that the standards have changed, or just that Disney wanted them to be PG-13 because PG-13 is cool and PG isn't. Because as I mentioned above they really don't seem any more "adult" than the original movies.

Other than AOTC, the last PG movie I can think of that possibly deserved a PG-13 rating is Narnia: Prince Caspian. Lots of violence in that movie, including children killing multiple adults throughout.

 

TPM is still PG since most of the violence is directed towards the droids. Qui-Gon get stabbed and Maul is cut in half but it's shown very briefly.
AOTC would probably be PG-13 today for the reasons mentioned by other posters.

 

I think Sith and Rogue One are the only Star Wars movies that really deserve the PG-13 rating. Kids are perfectly mature enough to handle everything in the other films.

 

ROTS R

 

There hasn't been a blockbuster film that actually aims for a PG rating these days. In many ways, PG-13 is the new PG rating.

I mean, it was a big deal for Revenge of the Sith to be rated PG-13 rather than PG. Like saying, this was no ordinary Star Wars. This was the film for the big boys and girls. Darker and Edgier.

Honestly, if the MPAA rated the films from a modern perspective, they would all be PG-13.

 

I think that was some weird thing from the UK. They even edited the headbutt out of the theatrical release.

 

Seriously? But left Shmi's death and Anakin's revenge (what little we see of it) in? But actually I'm not surprised, the Germans do even weirder things to movies. That's why I never ever watch German dubbed versions.

 

ROTS earned its PG-13.

AOTC perhaps shoulda probably just cause it's psychologically intense too, in addition to the violence; all the Tatooine stuff with Anakin.
Before, during, and after the Tusken stuff.
Brilliant performances by the actors in those scenes. Mom dying and all that. Pretty traumatizing I must say.

TPM? Hell no. Then again, I was one of those kids that saw some really scary movies when I was 8 or so, whether through negligence, inadvertently, or by sneaking to watch them on home release. Like, an older neighbor girl showed me A Nightmare On Elm Street when I was like 10 years old and gotta admit it was pretty scary. Too bad me younger sister was there too cause that didn't go well. She wasn't friends with that older girl after that.
Live and learn. She's over it now.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Jaws originally rated PG back in 1975? It's before my time, but that is funny as hell cause that movie is way more terrifying to a young kid than any Star War lol.

Is Quint getting eaten by Bruce more terrifying than Maul being half the man he used to be or what? At least Maul lived.
Quint was never seen again. Damn.

 

Yes, it seems so. Apparently it was shortly considered for R BEFORE release, but since release it's always been PG.

 

Noice, thanks mate. Thought so.

Oh! I recall now, the whole PG-13 rating got started after Gremlins and Temple of Doom.

Way to go Spielberg.
He's a rebel.

 

The G rating I feel is almost non-existent these days, as it seems a lot of animated films released are given a PG rating. I think animated films probably make up the bulk of PG rated films; it seems that there are not that many live action movies released with this rating these days. I feel like it could be reasonable that TPM and AOTC would get a PG-13 rating today, particularly the latter.

 

TPM, I don’t think so.
The only possible scene that might allow it to be PG13 is Qui-Gon’s death, but it isn’t particularly graphic in itself. I’d put it on par with Raiders of the Lost Arc, probably less deserving.

With AOTC, I really think there's a possibility. It has themes nearly as dark as those of ROTS, and the Tusken scene itself would make it worthy of a PG13 rating.

 

I agree. Having said that, I perceived TPM as as edgy as a kid. For example, Watto tells Qui-Gon, "I hope you didn't kill anyone I know for it [the pod]. Ha ha ha." That does a good job of showing that Watto is actually sinister.

 

They'd both absolutely be rated PG-13. TPM is much tamer, but Qui-Gon gets run through with Maul's lightsaber and you see the exit wound. Then there's that little spray of blood when Maul gets sliced in half, followed by watching him literally break in half. AotC has two beheadings and a severed arm, on top of the wholesale massacre of an entire nomadic tribe.

 

Pretty much everything is rated PG-13 now.... I'm not sure how much effort the ratings group even puts in as ratings have become pretty irrelevant given the rise in the popularity of non-theater content via streaming that doesn't have to abide by old broadcast TV conventions

 

Not to get too off-topic, but to avoid a PG-13 rating the men who were killed in Price Caspian were wearing face-plates to make them seem more robotic like than human. They said this in I think the Director's Commentary or some other Chronicles of Narnia movie documentary.

 

Another issue is the head-butt in AOTC (Before your scoff at this, consider that young children might imitate it.)

 

Funny enough, actually, I recall reading that in particular, the film rating system used in the UK at the time was slightly stricter, and the headbutt shot had to be edited out to avoid a higher rating. Otherwise, everything else was fine as it was

As to whether it would rate it the same way today, it's hard to say. Now that I think about it, I'm curious how all sorts of film rating companies across the world have rated SW movies and if those ratings would be any different today

(Somewhat tangentially, believe it or not, ANH was apparently right on the edge of G and PG back in '77 - it was only the skeletons of Owen and Beru that solidified its PG rating, or so I've heard)