Ridley Scott talks Prometheus rating; is he pushing for an R or PG-13?

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

We’re going to hear a lot from Sir Ridley Scott in the months leading up to PROMETHEUS‘ release in June. Thankfully, he can stop fielding questions about whether or not it’s an ALIEN prequel, so it seems as though we’ve arrived at the next topic of conversation: what’s it going to be rated?

Every ALIEN movie has been an R, with the exception of Paul W.S. Anderson’s ALIEN VS. PREDATOR. It would make sense for PROMETHEUS to follow suit, but as we know well by now, the studios will never hesitate to trim some bloodshed if they can achieve a more money-friendly PG-13.

So what does Scott foresee in the case of PROMETHEUS? Empire magazine got some words out of him:

“The question is, do you go for the PG-13, [which] financially makes quite a difference, or do you go for what it should be, which is R? Essentially, it’s kinda R.”

“It’s not just about the blood, it’s about ideas that are very stressful. I’m not an idiot, but I’ll do everything I can to get the most aggressive film I can.”

Sounds like Ridley knows what he wants, but we haven’t heard the MPAA weigh in, so let’s see what happens when they slap the sci-fi flick with a rating. (It should be noted that 20th Century Fox, PROMETHEUS’ distributor, had no problem putting themselves in the crosshairs of movie fans when they made sure LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD got PG-13’d.)

In the same interview, Scott also professes his love for one of the film’s main characters: The Space Jockey. “[I’ve wanted to revisit it for] years! Years, years, years. I always wondered when they did [Aliens] 2,3 and 4 why they hadn’t touched upon that, instead of evolving into some other fantastic story. They missed the biggest question of them all: who’s the big guy? And where were they going? And with what? Why that cargo? There’s all kinds of questions.”

Those questions will be answered on JUNE 8th.

Charlize Theron