Summary
- R-rated movies thrive on telling stories with no restrictions, leading to massive box office hits and creative freedom.
- PG-13 ratings can hinder critical reception and box office success, as viewers crave the mayhem and gritty themes of an R-rated film.
- Movies like Borderlands and Alita could have benefited from being R-rated, allowing for more action, violence, and true adaptation to the source material.
Thanks to the grand success of Deadpool, movie studios are becoming less fearful of an R-rated. R-rated movies were always seen as edgy and lacking box office appeal due to the fact that families can’t assemble for something more crude, but in 2024, that’s certainly not the case, and most movies benefit from the unrestricted mayhem of potential in an R-rated movie like Deadpool & Wolverine.
10 Highest-Grossing R-Rated Movies, Ranked
R-rated have free reign to tell the stories they want, no matter how bloody or crude, and that's led to some massive box office hits.
A PG-13 rating doesn’t save a movie in terms of critical reception and box office gross. There have been some movies that have suffered under the effects of a PG-13 rating, and only an alternate timeline in the multiverse can bring about the potential of PG-13 movies that should have been R-rated in production and design.
7 Borderlands
A Movie That Lacks The Violence and Humor of Borderlands
- Release Date: August 8, 2024
- Director: Eli Roth
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 9%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 50%
Starting the list with the most recent contender for PG-13 movies that should have been R-rated, is Borderlands. Borderlands is a beloved video game series, and it truly thrives in mayhem and violence, and that’s something that the movie somewhat lacks. It’s not the best video game movie adaptation out there, and there are a few factors why, but an R-rating might have aided the creative process.
If Borderlands was rated R, like the games, then there would be free reign for action and comedy to really let loose, and with sci-fi worlds similar to Guardians of the Galaxy and Mad Max, Borderlands could have really blended the two together with violence and love for the source material.
6 Casino Royale
James Bond's Daniel Craig Reboot Goes Dark, but is it Dark Enough?
- Release Date: November 17, 2006
- Director: Martin Campbell
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 94%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 90%
James Bond returns with a new face, and as Daniel Craig takes on the iconic role of 007, audiences are immersed in a new crime thriller saga, where espionage and the look of cool reign supreme. James Bond is tasked this time around with stopping Le Chiffre, a banker of the world’s most dangerous criminal organization, from winning a poker game that has the highest stakes on the criminal market.
A movie about spies, espionage, and the world of criminal dealings, Casino Royale is excellent, but it might have benefited from that illustrious R-rating. James Bond movies should lean more into the violence of the criminal underworld, as the terrorist threats that James Bond wrestles with demand deeper cuts that might involve sensitive topics and cut-throat action.
5 Transformers: Age of Extinction
Optimus Prime is at His Lowest, but the Violence Never Reaches Beyond PG-13
- Release Date: June 27, 2014
- Director: Michael Bay
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 18%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 50%
The Michael Bay Transformers trilogy was not without its violence, crude jokes, and deviation from the lore, but that doesn’t mean they were not a fun time. Years later, Michael Bay would return to the Transformers series with Age of Extinction, bringing forth the familiar Autobots and revised Decepticons in a battle against humans who want them off this Earth.
With a new film in the Transformers series, Age of Extinction would have benefited from growing up alongside the audience that watched these movies as kids, since Optimus Prime is at his lowest, with the Autobots scattered or killed. Age of Extinction could have been a gritty Transformers movie that didn’t shy away from darker themes like self-worth and violence.
4 World War Z
A Movie With Spectacle, but Not So Much Substance
- Release Date: June 21, 2013
- Director: Marc Forster
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 67%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 72%
World War Z is a beloved book, but a less so beloved movie of the same name. Starring Brad Pitt, World War Z should have been exceptional, taking on the world of zombies in a race against time to save humanity from literally eating each other. Yet, a PG-13 rating meant that World War Z couldn’t let things get too violent, or zombies get too threatening.
Whilst it would have been nice to see World War Z feel closer to the source material, it would have been even nicer to feel the unrelenting threat of zombie hordes and the human characters that are desperate to survive and save humanity, and an R-rating could have forced that much like 2 8 Days Later.
3 Venom: Let There Be Carnage
A Lethal Protector and an Alien Serial Killer, Held Back by PG-13 Requirements
- Release Date: October 1, 2021
- Director: Andy Serkis
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 57%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 84%
There’s a whole world of comic book movies that deserve to be R-rated, but one in particular stands out. Venom: Let There Be Carnage brings forth the iconic villain of Carnage, a sadistic serial killer bonded to a symbiote with crazed potential for violence and fearful tactics. Also joining the movie was director Andy Serkis, familiar with the work of motion capture, so hopes were high for this Venom sequel.
10 Highest-Grossing Superhero Movies, Ranked
Superhero movies have dominated the box office for years, providing audiences with engaging blockbusters that have made billions of dollars.
Whilst there may be an f-bomb, there’s not enough for Venom: Let There Be Carnage to sink its sharp teeth into the bones of criminals. Venom is the Lethal Protector, and it would be nice to see him being lethal, and doing some protecting, in a way that doesn’t shield itself just to obtain a PG-13 rating, especially when it weakens the great potential of Woody Harrelson as an alien-bonded serial killer.
2 Edge of Tomorrow
Tom Cruise Suffers a Time Loop of Death Against Aliens
- Release Date: June 6, 2014
- Director: Doug Liman
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 91%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 90%
After an alien race has launched an attack on Earth, a combined military might send soldiers into a fight that will surely be suicide. One soldier in particular, Major William Cage, develops the powers of a time loop, where he experiences his death over and over again until he can find a way to break the loop and send the aliens running off this planet.
Edge of Tomorrow is truly excellent, and the action that takes place is exciting, and seeing Tom Cruise in a more vulnerable and somewhat comedic role as a cowardly soldier who dies again and again, is a fun and refreshing take. Yet, there’s potential for Edge of Tomorrow to be even greater, as an R-rating would heighten the kills faced by Tom Cruise’s character and the edge of the plot.
1 Alita: Battle Angel
- Release Date: February 14, 2019
- Director: Robert Rodriguez
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 61%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 91%
Alita: Battle Angel is a severely underrated movie that adapts the manga of the same name in live-action. A cyborg that connects with humanity thanks to Ido, a cyber-doctor, Alita: Battle Angel sees the worst and the best of humanity within Iron City, where she must face her mysterious past in bloody warfare.
Alita: Battle Angel deserves a sequel, but it might have had more of a chance if the movie did not shy away from its R-rated origins, as although the PG-13 movie is good, the dependence on stylistic and action-packed violence could truly benefit the story of a cyberpunk world such as this.
5 Most Expensive Movies Based On Games
Some video game movies have been gifted a plethora of cash, providing creators with a heavy budget to make the franchise come to life.