List of official Star Wars movies with age rating / film classification
/UPDATE: Why not try my new custom GPT designed specifically to help you navigate age ratings for family movies?
Movie Maestro: Family Flick Finder https://chat.openai.com/g/g-5Fqi5FLVK-movie-maestro-family-flick-finder
Let me know if it works for you and what can be improved.
For my son’s 8th birthday I decided to introduce him to the Star Wars franchise. I saw the original when it was released and it was the first movie i ever saw. I was also a little younger than him at the time, so I figured he’d be ok to watch at least some of the series. He loved it.
The biggest problem, however, is easily finding the age ratings/classifications for movies all in one place. Of course, IMDB has ratings but doesn’t make it easy, with issues such as not showing in compact view and not having lists in one place (if you search for star wars movies, using advanced search, you still get 60 movies listed!)
So, I’ve pulled this basic list together for the benefit of other parents. You’ll see that the ratings start off suitable for younger viewers, but as the movies get more modern, the rating goes up. This is very typical, if not a little disappointing too. However, you can certainly get up to 5 out of 9 of the movies with younger viewers, even if they may not understand the subtlety and interplay of them all.
Details of these movies, such as director, writer etc. are given on the relevant wikipedia page. However, what you won’t get there is the film classification / age rating. That’s why I’ve produced this list so you can easily see how suitable each film is for your kids.
What order should I watch Star Wars in?
You may not know the context to these movies, but they were written as a group of trilogies, and the second group of three was filmed first. So this basically means episode 4/5/6 were the first movies to be released. Then they went “back in time” to make episodes 1/2/3 next.
This begs the question as to what order to view them in. I was advised by an avid fan to watch them in the order they were made, and I have to say, that has been very satisfactory. After all, that’s the order that the general viewing audience has seen them, and it also means things like special effects develop according to the technology of the time. It’s also the case that the younger ratings apply to the earlier movies.
Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
Episode VI – Return of the Jedi
Episode I – The Phantom Menace
Episode II – Attack of the Clones
Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
Episode VII – The Force Awakens
Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker
Star Wars movies in order of production, with year and age classification (UK & US)
| Title | UK Rating/Genre | US Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) | U | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy | PG |
| Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) | U | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy | PG |
| Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983) | U | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy | PG |
| Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) | U | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy | PG |
| Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) | PG | 142 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy | PG |
| Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) | 12A | 140 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy | PG-13 |
| Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) | 12A | 138 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi | PG-13 |
| Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) | 12A | 152 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy | PG-13 |
| Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) | 12A | 141 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy | PG-13 |
1. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) : U | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy | WATCH
2. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) : U | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
3. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983) : U | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
4. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) : U | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
5. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) : PG | 142 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
6. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) : 12A | 140 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
7. Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) : 12A | 138 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
8. Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) : 12A | 152 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
9. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) ; 12A | 141 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Should I let my child watch these? An explanation of the ratings.
You’ll see there is a broad correlation between the UK and US ratings for the movies. U and PG map to PG, and 12A maps to PG-13. IN short, the US has a slightly more cautious certification.
“U” is universal in the UK, i.e. no rating, so we started watching Star Wars (A New Hope) at age 8, as I had done when it was released all those decades ago! Most of the older rating comes from the violence (i.e. light saber fights and deaths, explosions etc) not from profanity, nudity etc. In essence the movies are almost entirely about intergalactic politics and fighting!
After we had watched up to Attack of the Clones (the last PG) we held off on the others (12A), and have finally watched them at age 11. The 12 and 12A rating in the UK is a little confusing. A 12 means age 12, and a 12-year-old could wander into a cinema alone to see the movie. However, a UK 12A means you can watch younger than 12 if accompanied by an adult - so it’s a bit stronger than PG but still leaves room for parental discretion. It also means a 10 or 11 year-old could be accompanied by an adult to see it.
Frankly, the rating is really all about the fighting/violence. As it is not dark/sadistic, but has a fantastical element (e.g. the weapons are fantasy, there is no blood), it gets the 12A rating. Also, there is no real lingering - so while there may be a death, it’s over in a split second and the movie moves on, and I have tended to find that reading descriptions in advance has made the stronger content seem more significant than it really is in the moment.
The way I looked at it, my child had basically seen equivalent violence in PG Bond movies (I always recall the bloke who ends up going through the snow-blower) and other parts of Star Wars (including the myriad of memes). In the end I don’t think it was an issue (other than any violence is an issue) and I do not feel it was an error of judgement. So, at age 11, all the movies have been watched.
If you want a more detailed analysis, why not try asking my customGPT built for the purpose. It was the challenge with unpicking all this information that made me build it, and it was it’s answers for the last 4 movies that convinced me to go ahead and watch them as a family. https://chat.openai.com/g/g-5Fqi5FLVK-movie-maestro-family-flick-finder
Additional Commentary from my 11 Year old
My son wanted to add his own perspective and review; this is what he wrote. Note that he has written it as if he is an adult certifier, not just a child viewer, so has tried to adopt a “grown up” persona. When I asked him to clarify “disturbing” he meant scary for the youngest children.
IV - PG because of mildy gruesome scenes (hand gets chopped, skeletons visible)
Empire Strikes Back - PG because hands getting chopped off and mild violence
ROJ - PG - because of fighting and characters that might be considered disturbing.
TPM - PG - because of action fighting in many scenes, gruesome moments such as a creatures head being eaten and disturbing alien characters
AOC - PG/12A on point of view - large battles with disturbing monsters, many examples of action violence and lots of romance
ROS [REVENGE OF SITH] - 12 - lot of fighting and violence such as duels, head being chopped of, gruesome murder and also romance covering mild adult topics. gruesome scenes such as grapically burnt man and people with disturbing skin
TFA - 12A - lots of fighting and deaths seen, creepy monster which is quite disturbing and graphic battles
TLA - 12A - fighting and battles, sad and chilling stories, gruesome deaths and people and nudity [low]
ROS [RISE OF SKYWALKER] - 12A/12 on point of view - a lot of battles and fighting with high violence such as graphic duels, graphic injuries shown and a character could be considered disturbing
[IF YOU WANT MORE DETAILS - VIST IMDB, OVER MOVIE SITES OR WOOKIPEDIA, A STAR WARS FAN BASED VERSION OF WIKIPEDIA FOUND ON FANDOM]
