The Predator franchise has delighted audiences everywhere with its brutal scenes of violence ever since Arnold Schwarzenegger and his elite paramilitary rescue team first made their way into the jungle and got largely equalized by a menacing alien visitor in the original 1987 movie. So it seems vaguely amusing that the PG-13 installment Predator: Badlands has somehow gone beyond the pale in the U.K. in the year of our lord 2026.

Still, that is indeed the case, as the U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority has now banned Disney from using a version of a digital video poster for Dan Trachtenberg’s hit movie, saying it could “cause fear or distress for young children.”

The poster, which shows the severed torso of damaged synthetic Thia (Elle Fanning) being hoisted into the air by predator Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), received [checks notes] two complaints from the public according to the ASA (via THR.) Disney had previously battled the ban on the ad – first launched in November of last year – by pointing out that Thia is not human.

“Whilst we acknowledged Twentieth Century Studio’s comment that the smaller figure was not actually a human, but rather a ‘synth’ robot, we considered that was not clear from the ad, and that the figure was likely to be interpreted as a human,” the ASA clapped back. “We further considered that the realistic depiction of the smaller figure’s severed torso and exposed spine was gory and likely to be disturbing to younger children.”

It’s not yet clear if Disney will relaunch the ad without the offending image, but they accepted the ASA’s ruling, stating, “We take our responsibilities to audiences very seriously and strive to work closely with partners to meet the required standards.”

The ban is extremely unlikely to have any impact whatsoever on the future of the Predator franchise, with Trachtenberg teasing his involvement in a third new installment by explaining to SFX (via Games Radar) that, “The reason why I felt possessed to make [these movies] and sort of why I rushed was because I was so eager to get to the third thing.”

The post Debatably Gruesome Predator: Badlands Ad Banned in the UK appeared first on Den of Geek.