age ratings

The first ever film to be given the 12 rating was Batman in 1989. The reason it was given this rating was because it was a lot darker than the cartoon Batman. They thought that the Joker would be too scary for younger children. They originally thought it should be a 15 but young teenagers who was its target audience would not be able to see it, thats why they created the 12 rating.

The exorcist was submitted to the bbfc in 1974 and was given the rating of X. But with the video recordings act in 1984 meant the bbfc had to decide if this film was suitable for a video classification in case a young child got their hands on it. So they decided to not release the film with a video classification and it was taken off sale therefor no one could watch the film at home until 1999 when they gave it the 18 age rating.

Jurassic Park was the first film to be given the pg rating. They wasn't sure what to do with this film because they enjoyed it and thought it was a good film for kids but they noticed there were some disturbing scenes. They invited children to view the film and see what they thought, most of them said the film was good and scary whereas some said that the film was too scary for them. The bbfc had to think this through they didn't want to give it a 12 or a 15 because people under that age wouldnt be able to see it, so they came up with the rating pg and said "contains sequences which may be particularly disturbing to younger children or those of a sensitive disposition"