Behind film ratings: What every parent should know before going to the movies

Editor’s note: Andy Farnsworth co-anchors Utah’s Morning News and co-hosts the KSL Movie Show.

SALT LAKE CITY — Picture this: It’s family movie night and you’re a kid. Who picked the movie?

Odds are, it was your parents who ultimately decided what everyone was going to watch, regardless of the input they got from any family members. It’s also quite likely that the decision was heavily influenced by the rating given to the movie by the Motion Picture Association. You know, that little box in the corner of the poster or on the disc cover or next to the title on the streaming service screen.

For many years now, those little letters often formed the line between what a kid was allowed to watch and what they weren’t.

Since 1968 the Motion Picture Association has issued G, PG, PG-13, R or NC-17 ratings to films submitted to the association: The six major Hollywood studios that make up the Association have agreed for years that they won’t release a film to theaters in the United States without one of these ratings.

But many parents may not know what goes into issuing those ratings, who makes the decisions or what criteria is used. They may wonder if the process of rating a film has changed in the nearly 60 years that the ratings system has been around.

So let’s examine it!

What each rating represents

Movies are rated by the Classification and Ratings Administration (CARA), an independent agency overseen by the Motion Picture Association. CARA members watch each submitted film and assign it a rating that they believe a majority of American parents would feel is appropriate based on the film’s content. Here are the possible ratings a film can receive, and what each rating signifies.

G: General Audiences

The G rating stands for “General Audiences.” All ages are admitted without any restrictions. A G-rated motion picture contains nothing in theme, language, or any content depicted on screen that, in the view of the rating board, would offend parents whose younger children view the motion picture. Some snippets of language may go beyond polite conversation but they are common everyday expressions. No stronger words are present in G-rated motion pictures. Depictions of violence are minimal. No nudity, sex scenes or drug use are present in the motion picture.

The G rating is not a “certificate of approval,” (according to CARA) nor does it signify that the movie is a “children’s” movie, though culturally many have associated the rating with kids movies.

PG: Parental Guidance Suggested

A PG rating stands for “Parental Guidance Suggested, Some Material May Not Be Suitable For Children.” A PG-rated motion picture should be investigated by parents before they let their younger children attend. The PG rating indicates that, in the view of the rating board, parents may consider some material unsuitable for their children, and parents should make that decision. PG-rated motion pictures contain more mature themes that may call for parental guidance. There may be some profanity and some depictions of violence or brief nudity. But the scenes or descriptions are not so intense as to require parents be strongly cautioned beyond the suggestion of parental guidance. There is no drug use content in a PG-rated motion picture.

PG-13: Parents Strongly Cautioned, Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Children Under 13

A PG-13 rating is a sterner warning by the rating board to parents, and asks them to determine whether children under age 13 should view the motion picture. In a PG-13 film some material might not be suited for them. A PG-13 motion picture may go beyond the PG rating in theme, violence, nudity, sensuality, language, adult activities or other elements, but does not reach the restricted, or “R” category. A film’s theme alone will not result in a rating greater than PG-13, although depictions of activities related to a mature theme may result in an “R” rating. Any drug use will initially require at least a PG-13 rating. More than brief nudity will require at least a PG-13 rating, but such nudity in a PG-13 rated motion picture generally will not be related to intimate actions.

There may be depictions of violence in a PG-13 movie, but generally it will not be both realistic and extreme or persistent violence. A motion picture’s single use of one of the harsher swear words, though only as an expletive, initially requires at least a PG-13 rating. More than one such use typically requires an R rating, as must even one of those words used in a sexual context.

The Rating Board can give a PG-13 rating if, based on a special vote by a 2/3 majority, the Raters feel that most American parents would believe that a PG-13 rating is appropriate because of the context or manner in which the words are used, or because the use of those words is inconspicuous in the movie.

R-Restricted: Children Under 17 Require Accompanying Parent or Adult Guardian

An R-rated motion picture, in the view of the rating board, contains some adult material. An R-rated film may include adult themes, adult activity, hard language, intense or persistent violence, intimacy-related nudity, drug abuse or other elements. Parents are counseled to take this rating very seriously. Children under 17 are not allowed to attend R-rated motion pictures unaccompanied by a parent or adult guardian. Parents are strongly urged to find out more about R-rated motion pictures in determining their suitability for their children. Generally, it is not appropriate for parents to bring their young children with them to R-rated motion pictures.

NC-17: No One 17 and Under Admitted

An NC-17-rated motion picture is one that, in the view of the rating board, most parents would consider patently too adult for their children 17 and under. No children will be admitted. An NC-17 rating can be based on violence, sex, aberrational behavior, drug abuse or any other element that most parents would consider too strong and therefore off-limits for viewing by their children. It may surprise some parents to learn that, officially, NC-17 does not mean “obscene” or “pornographic” in the common or legal meaning of those words. According to CARA, a viewer isn’t supposed to assume the raters judged the film in a negative light. They say the rating simply signals that the content is appropriate only for an adult audience.

Why movie ratings exist

To understand why films have ratings, you have to go back to the early days of motion pictures. In the early 20th century, many American critics worried that movies could undermine morality or even civilization itself. By the 1920’s, many cities and seven states had established censorship boards, but each board would make decisions about what parts of the movie would be removed to protect public decency, and that varied based on where in the country the censorship board was located. For example, in the southern United States, censor boards would remove any scenes that showed or implied interracial relationships, while that was not a concern for viewers in Chicago.

Movie producers therefore began trying to figure out a way to create a standard where if they censored themselves, others wouldn’t do it and the same picture could play in all parts of the country. So they created a new system of self-regulation in 1930. The Production Code, or Hays Code, had quite a few regulations that may seem silly now, but were of great concern a century ago. Some of the prohibitions included “lustful” kissing—defined as kisses lasting longer than 3 seconds. Another restriction that is fun to notice in old movies is the rule that lovers weren’t allowed to be horizontal, so the studios created a rule that, if actors embraced, one partner kept one foot on the floor at all times. Certain slang words were also prohibited (like “hold your hat,” “nerts,” and “fanny”).

Support for the Production Code weakened starting in the 1950’s, in part because movies were given 1st Amendment protections by the US Supreme Court in 1952. The move signaled a reversal of a decision 37 years earlier where the court ruled motion pictures to be a purely commercial enterprise and therefore not protected speech.

With movies now considered protected expression and with more foreign-made films not subject to the Production Code showing in the United States, (after the Supreme Court disbanded movie studio ownership of movie theaters) directors and studios began pushing more risqué subject matter. Movies such as “Some Like It Hot” starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and a scantily-clad Marilyn Monroe were released without Code approval, yet that didn’t prevent them from becoming big hits.

By the 1960’s most of Hollywood and the country realized the Production Code needed to go. But the studios were still concerned that the government might step in and censor content, so they created the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in 1968 and appointed Jack Valenti, a former Lyndon Johnson advisor, as the head.

Fearing U.S. government intervention and the forced censorship of films, Valenti’s solution was what he hoped would be a compromise: allowing filmmakers to tell their stories the way they wanted to tell them, but also warning viewers beforehand of what they might see. The original four ratings were G, M (for Mature Audiences), R, and X.

Valenti and the MPAA then created the organization to rate the films, originally named the Code and Rating Administration (CARA) and was later renamed the Classification and Rating Administration. CARA was not formally a part of the MPAA, supposedly to prevent any sort of influence on the rating by the studios.

During the 1970s and 1980s, small tweaks were made to the classifications, as situations inevitably arose where a film didn’t fit neatly into the system at that time. In the early 1970s the M rating was changed to PG, and the PG-13 rating was added in 1984. The most recent change to a ratings classification came in 1990 when the MPAA dropped the X rating and re-named it NC-17.

Who rates the films? 

According to CARA’s officially published rules, its rating board is led by a chairperson who is appointed by the chairman of the Motion Picture Association and with the approval of the president of the National Association of Theater Owners.

The chairperson is ultimately responsible for the rating of all motion pictures submitted to CARA. Since 2019 that position has been held by Kelly McMahon, former legal counsel for the MPA and who also used to oversee the ratings appeals process.

Next are the senior raters, who are selected by the chairperson from among the raters. According to CARA’s official rules, senior raters are those who have demonstrated experience and judgment in rating motion pictures. Senior raters lead the deliberations of the raters which then result in an individual motion picture being rated. They then communicate with the rating contact for ratings about those motion pictures, ensuring the continuity and consistency of the ratings system.

Senior raters are the only raters who are also publicly known. According to CARA’s website, they are currently Mario Mooghan and Matt O’Connor.

Finally, there are the “regular” raters. Raters serve up to seven years at the discretion of the chairperson. The chairperson attempts to select a group of raters who represent the diversity of American parents. According to CARA’s official rules, each member of the rating board must be a parent and may not have any other affiliation with the entertainment industry. The chairperson and senior raters may have children of any age. But raters must have children between the ages of five and fifteen when they join the rating board and must leave the rating board when all of their children have reached age of twenty-one.

CARA also says the identity of the non-senior-raters are not disclosed to protect them from being subject to pressure from members of the public and producers and distributors of motion pictures with respect to the rating of individual movies.

Occasional efforts have been made by members of the public and even in Hollywood to try and track down the identity of the raters with little success. The director of a documentary called “This Film Is Not Yet Rated” (which premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival) tried to get to the bottom of this when they submitted their own film to the MPAA and received an NC-17 rating. The team behind the film went as far as hiring a private investigator to try and discover who the raters were at that time, and to verify if they met the criteria stated by CARA’s rules.

CARA does not disclose how many regular raters are used to review the hundreds of films that are submitted each year. The last data they publicly released in 2018 was that they had anywhere from five to 10 regular raters at any given time.

The film rating process

According to the Motion Picture Association, the process begins when a filmmaker submits their film to the rating board through the rating website. Raters then watch the film at the same time. Immediately after, each rater fills out a ballot, noting what he or she thinks a majority of parents would consider to be the film’s appropriate rating. According to CARA’s official rules, there is no discussion before or during the preliminary vote after watching the film so as to be free of influence from one another.

It’s important to note that raters don’t necessarily vote based on whether they would allow their own children of various ages to watch the film. Their decision is based on what they think a majority of parents would think is an appropriate rating.

The senior rater then announces to the group the result of the initial vote. At this point they begin a discussion in which the raters say how strongly they feel about their own vote and why they decided on the rating they picked. After that discussion, raters all agree on a rating. If there is a tie vote among the raters, the chair casts the deciding vote. After deciding on the film’s rating, the group then comes up with a rating descriptor, telling what kind of content caused the rating.

According to CARA’s own official rules, “the ratings board’s job is to reflect standards, not set them. While raters adhere to general guidelines to determine a movie rating, as parents’ opinions on sex, profanity and violence evolve throughout the years, the board’s ratings have adjusted to reflect those changing views.”

Once they’ve reached this point in the process, the senior rater contacts the submitting filmmaker and tells them what rating the board chose.

The filmmaker’s options

After the film is given a rating the filmmaker has four options.

1. The filmmaker agrees with the rating, accepts it, and the rating is certified.
2. The filmmaker can say they understand the reason for the rating that was given, but wants a less restrictive rating (typically PG-13 instead of R). The filmmaker then has the option to edit the film and send it back for review, when the board will review it again.
3. The filmmaker can disagree with the rating and then appeal the decision to the CARA Appeals Board. This is the avenue they’d pursue if they do not feel an edit is warranted.
4. If they are not a member of the MPAA, the filmmaker can just choose not to accept the rating and release the film unrated.

If a filmmaker decides to appeal a rating they are unsatisfied with, and they are unwilling to make any edits, they go to the CARA Appeals Board. Unlike the ratings board, the appeals board is comprised of people in the movie industry. These can include distributors or representatives of theater chains around the country. There are also two observers on the appeals board that represent religious groups, typically Catholic and Protestant, and another from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.

The numbers show that most films accept the rating they’re given. MPAA statistics over its first 50 years (1968-2018) show that of the nearly 30,000 films they rated, an average of nine films each year have been appealed. That’s less than 2%. And just 165 films have had their rating overturned, which is less than 1% of films rated.

Why filmmakers, studios and theater owners care about the rating

Former MPAA president Jack Valenti was famous for saying that a film’s rating had no effect on it’s box office totals. He claimed that no rating could hurt a good movie, and no rating could save a bad one.

But box office returns don’t lie and with few exceptions, movies rated G, PG and PG-13 earn more money on average during their theatrical runs than movies that are rated R. In the first half of 2025, for example, three of the top five grossing movies in the United States, the “A Minecraft Movie,” “Lilo & Stitch” and “How to Train Your Dragon” were rated PG. The other two were rated PG-13.

Jeff Whipple is president of Whipple Media and recently retired after 17 years as vice president of marketing at Megaplex Theaters. He said theater owners and operators are affected by a film’s rating every bit as much as the studios are because theaters are in the business of drawing in customers and the hope is to cast as wide a net as possible.

“The goal is to get the right audience in the auditorium to enjoy the film,” Whipple said. “Most films, especially by the major studios, are framed up ahead of time with what they think the audience is going to be and the rating is likely to be. These are big-budget decisions the studios are making so the hope is, that there are no surprises.”

Whipple said theaters try and program their showings based on what they think their local audiences will support, and the number of screens available.

He said when he was at Megaplex Theaters, they often asked studios if they would be willing to allow an alternate version of an R-rated film to be shown in Utah, since they knew the studios had already approved alternate versions for other locations outside the United States (Academy Award-winning film “Oppenheimer” being a prime example). The reasoning was sound: There were customers who would patronize an edited version, thus getting more people into theater seats and boosting the movie’s box office totals.

But the studios always turned them down.

Whipple said that movie theaters want to work with parents so that everyone who comes to the theater can have a great experience. They make sure ratings are clearly posted and they do their best to limit underage ticket purchasing.

But ultimately, it’s up to the parents.

“Do the homework about a movie before taking the kids or dropping them off to see something on their own,” he said.

Whipple reminds parents and moviegoers they always have the option to just walk out, and they should definitely exercise that option.

“Guests have the power to vote with their wallet, and with their feet,” he said. “If it’s not your particular flavor, excuse yourself and go out and tell them, ‘Hey, that was more than we bargained for.’”

He says refund polices will vary depending on the theater’s guest-friendliness, but most, if not all, will offer you a different movie at a similar start time, or perhaps a gift card for a future visit.

“Before getting too feisty about it, especially with the front line team, vow to do it differently the next time.”

Whipple says parents can also send a message to filmmakers by deliberately patronizing those movies that do have the type of content the parents approve of. He noted how Angel Studios has gone from crowdfunding their releases years ago to becoming a publicly-traded company in 2025.

So, what now?

Since the ratings board is reportedly just average parents who decide what level of adult content they feel the movie rises to, you as a parent have a couple of options. You can accept what the ratings board says and hope their views match your own feelings, or, you can do the research yourself and decide. Alon those lines there are resources available to you.

And for what it’s worth, the thing I tell my own children when they want to watch something they’re too young for, and what I suggest to other parents who ask my advice as a movie critic and parent is this — the movie you want to watch isn’t going anywhere. It’ll be there when you’re older and can choose for yourself. But for now, let’s watch something else instead.

It’s also worth noting that the youngest generations now watch much more video online than in theaters and on television. According to a 2021 Common Sense Media report, teenagers averaged about 8 hours and 39 minutes of screen media per day, including online videos. Eight to 12-year-olds averaged 5.5 hours daily. A 2024 Pew Research report noted that YouTube was the most popular platform for teens, with 73% visiting it daily, and 16% of teens describing their use of TikTok as “almost constant.”

Why does that matter? Because neither of those websites uses content ratings like those created for traditional media. Both online streamers offer some limited parental controls, but they are often easily bypassed.

For parents who want to have an active hand in what type of content their children are exposed to, vigilance and effort continue to be the watchwords.

Follow @KSLAndy