The Star Wars franchise has long been touted as a blockbuster series for all ages. That said, while the earlier films in the series received PG ratings, the more recent installments in the franchise have received slightly more restrictive PG-13 ratings from the MPAA. Now, it seems that will once again be the case with Ron Howard's Solo: A Star Wars Story, and it appears that it will carry on a tradition of the other PG-13 Star Wars movies that have debuted in recent years. In fact, like all of the Star Wars films that have debuted since Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Solo has earned its PG-13 rating because of "sequences of sci-fi action violence."
The franchise is called Star Wars, so "sci-fi action violence" kind of goes with the territory for films like this. In fact, it's arguably not all that surprising to see Solo: A Star Wars Story lean heavily into the sci-fi violence aspect of its narrative and carry on the PG-13 torch that has defined the franchise in its recent installments ever since 2005's Revenge of the Sith. After all, Han Solo is a character who proudly wears a blaster on his hip, and the trailers have already shown off some impressive action sequences. Beyond that, Solo: A Star Wars Story will presumably take place in a gritty corner of the Star Wars world (very much in the vein of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), so an emphasis on violence seems to make a certain degree of sense. We saw this rating because of "sci-fi action violence" in The Force Awakens, Rogue One, The Last Jedi, and now we will once again see it in Solo.
Of course, we should also take a moment to point out the fact that the PG-13 rating has become a far more standard classification for this type of blockbuster in recent years anyway. With the boom of superhero movies and the domination of summer tentpole franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DCEU, and many others, the PG-13 rating is arguably the most common type of classification for this type of film. Sure, we sometimes see R-rated movies like Logan or Deadpool hit the big screen and do great business, but as of right now, it looks like the Star Wars franchise is sitting comfortably within the rating that seems to cast the broadest possible audience net -- while also not skimping on thematic material.
Audiences will finally get a chance to see these sequences of sci-fi action violence for themselves later this month when Solo: A Star Wars Story premieres on the big screen on May 25. CinemaBlend will keep you up-to-date with all of our fantastic coverage of the upcoming Star Wars spinoff film, so make sure to stay tuned for more details. Beyond Solo, make sure to also mark your calendars down for the release of Star Wars: Episode IX, which will premiere on December 20, 2019.
