Star Wars Return Of The Jedi has its age rating hiked for ‘violence’… But has your favourite film also been hit by censors?

Return of the Jedi and Jurassic Park were among the famous films to have their age ratings hiked by film censors in 2023, it has been revealed.

The Star Wars classic was ruled to no longer be suitable for young children due to the scenes of violence, including where Darth Vader’s hand is ‘cut off at the wrist’.

Also, Santa Claus: The Movie, supernatural comedy-drama Casper, The Addams Family and School of Rock, starring Jack Black, saw their classifications raised by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).

At the same time, violent movies such as Enter the Dragon, Raging Bull, Mean Streets, Friday the 13th and Gangs of New York saw their age ratings relaxed.

Research found that the BBFC upped the age limit on some family films due to concerns around violence and bad language.

Also, Santa Claus: The Movie, supernatural comedy-drama Casper, The Addams Family and School of Rock, starring Jack Black, saw their classifications raised by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)

The BBFC said it had raised Santa Claus: The Movie from a U to a PG rating because of its ‘mild violence’ and said the use of the word ‘crap’ exceeded its current guidelines for U-rated films

Yet it downgraded other films where the ‘guidance’ around violence was said to have ‘evolved’.

The BBFC said it had raised Santa Claus: The Movie from a U to a PG rating because of its ‘mild violence’ and said the use of the word ‘crap’ exceeded its current guidelines for U-rated films.

Concerns around ‘moderate violence’ which displayed a ‘brief emphasis on pain and injury’ in Return of the Jedi was ruled to exceed guidelines for films classed as U and so it was raised to a PG.

The BBFC says a PG film should not unsettle a child aged around 8, adding that those of any age may watch, ‘but parents are advised to consider whether the content may upset younger children’.

Jurassic Park, directed by Steven Spielberg, was raised from a PG to a 12A for its ‘moderate threat, violence, bloody images’.

But Bruce Lee’s final film Enter the Dragon dropped from an 18 to a 15 as the violence ‘lacks the visual detail’ for a higher rating.

Martin Scorsese’s 1980 film, Raging Bull, was lowered from an 18 to a 15, and eighties horror movie Friday The 13th dropped to a 15 amid changing audience expectations around horror films.

A BBFC spokesman said: ‘We embarked on our latest guidelines review this year where we spoke to a diverse range of parents, families, teenagers and educators across the length and breadth of the country.’