Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is toughened up from U to PG by film classifiers due to 'strength of violence' - as scenes include Darth Maul being chopped in half by a lightsaber

The age rating for Star Wars movie The Phantom Menace has been toughened up from a U to a PG by film classifiers, ahead of 25th anniversary screenings.

It includes violent scenes which show villain Darth Maul chopped in half by a lightsaber and Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn being stabbed through the torso.

As a result, the British Board of Film Classification has tightened up the age classification for the film, with a warning the film includes ‘moderate violence, mild threat’.

The BBFC said a ‘key consideration’ for the raising of the classification was the ‘strength of violence’ in the film. It added the violent scenes in the film ‘fit more comfortably’ with a PG rating.

Recent research by the film body showed that on-screen violence was of ‘increased concern’ to audiences. This research has helped shape the new classification guidelines that are introduced next month.

This comes after the film classification body was criticised over its recent decision to raise Mary Poppins from a U to a PG over ‘discriminatory language’, when violent films still had the lower rating.

In The Phantom Menace, released in 1999, two Jedi knights escape a planet with its queen before they meet a gifted slave boy, as they face the reemergence of the Sith, an ancient order dedicated to the ‘dark side’.

The film, which is the first episode in the series of Star Wars movies, stars Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn and Natalie Portman as Queen Amidala.

The BBFC highlighted the scene where the character is stabbed with a lightsaber during a duel.

It also pointed to the way a ‘villainous character’ appears to have been ‘slashed below the frame’ with a ‘faint mist of blood’ and the ‘undetailed sight’ of a severed body.

When the film was last classified in 2012 it was given a U rating, upholding the original classification given in 1999, meaning it was suitable for all ages.

The new rating of a PG means the content ‘should generally not unsettle a child aged around eight’.

This is not the first time that Star Wars films have been given higher ratings in recent years.

Last year 1983’s Return of the Jedi was lifted from a U to a PG because of ‘moderate violence’ and 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back was also raised in the same way in 2020.

A BBFC spokesman said: ‘A key consideration in the classification of this film was the strength of the violence and classification decisions will take account of the degree and nature of violence.’

They added that the current guidelines for a U rating state that violence will ‘generally be very mild’ and ‘mild violence’ can be acceptable ‘if it is justified by context’. 

At a PG there can be ‘moderate violence, without detail’ if the context justifies it.