Borderlands Movie Gets A Rating That Might Surprise Gamers

Fans of movies, video games, and movies based on video games, are almost certainly looking forward to Eli Roth’s Borderlands movie. The movie, about a group of Vault Hunters on a quest for a mysterious treasure on an alien world, is based on a game with a level of violence it becomes cartoonish, but it appears the movie may have toned things down a bit, based on it’s MPAA rating.

The Borderlands cast includes Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Cate Blanchett as a team thrown together in search of a mysterious treasure. The planet, Pandora (no, not that one) is a desolate wasteland full of crazy people who tend to use violence as a primary means of communication. The violence tends to get extreme in the games, but the movie will only be rated PG-13.

Why Borderlands Is Rated PG-13

Borderlands has been rated PG-13 by the MPAA.  The official description of the rating states...

While the description sounds just about right, the rating might be a surprise to those who know the games well. The Borderlands franchise has invariably been rated M, for Mature” by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, which is the equivalent of an R rating by the MPAA. As such we might have expected an R-rating for the film if the level of violence and language were to be equal.

It’s also a bit of a surprise to see a PG-13 rating come from director Eli Roth. With the exception of the, admittedly quite good, family movie A House With A Clock In Its Walls, Roth is known for R-rated horror movies, and while Borderlands' level of violence is played by laughs, not screams, the amount of blood is about on par.

At the same time, it’s not that much of a shock to see Borderlands getting the blockbuster-friendly PG-13 rating. This is the rating that nearly all tentpole projects shoot for as it makes the film available to the widest possible audience. While Borderlands may be intended for gamers 17 years old and older, I’m not telling anybody anything they don’t know to reveal that kids younger than that do play the game. An M-rating doesn’t keep most of them from playing, but an R-rating would keep many of them from seeing the film in theaters, and that’s not best for the movie’s box office chances.

Borderlands Can Still Be Plenty Violent

And the rating doesn’t mean the Borderlands movie won’t be plenty violent. The Borderlands trailer shows us a movie full of plenty of alien monsters getting torn to shreds. The catch is that they’re not human, and most don’t appear to have red blood. The MPAA usually draws a hard line on bloody violence involving humans but tends to be a bit more relaxed on science fiction violence where the things being blown up are less recognizable as people.

We’re less than two months from the Borderlands release date. While the world of theatrical exhibition is still a largely confusing mess, Inside Out 2’s success has shown us that big wins are still possible. With its rating, Borderlands only has a better chance of reaching its own success if all the fans of the game turn out to see the movie.