‘Batman’ Tops BBFC 2022 Ratings Complaints But Film About Prophet Muhammad’s Daughter Garnered Huge 1,500 General Complaints
Robert Pattinson’s The Batman and The Lady Of Heaven, a controversial film about the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, were the subject of the most complaints lodged with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) in 2022, according to the body’s annual report.
Out of 84 total complaints regarding ratings, The Batman received 22 concerning its 15 rating. The BBFC said the majority of complaints were lodged before the film’s release or from children under 15. Complainants felt that the classification was too restrictive and would prevent younger children who would like to see the film from watching it at the cinema, the report states.
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In response to the complaints, the BBFC said: “The Batman presents a bleak vision of Gotham City in which Batman teams up with a detective to solve a series of murders. The killer subjects his victims to sadistic devices designed to terrorize them prior to their death. The tone is consistently dark, and the film depicts its world as less fantastical than previous big-screen iterations of the Batman character.”
The BBFC clocked 1,573 general complaints about The Lady Of Heaven. The pic, directed by Eli King, tells the story of the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter, and sparked widespread controversy upon its release in 2022. The BBFC said complaints state the film was blasphemous and historically inaccurate.
At the time of its UK release, exhibitor Cineworld pulled all screenings of the film following onsite protests. The pic had been playing in nine Cineworld locations, and in two of those, protests became aggressive with verbal attacks against managers. Over 120,000 people also signed a petition to have the movie pulled from all theaters in the UK. The Bolton Council of Mosques called the film “blasphemous,” and said it “misrepresents orthodox historical narratives and disrespects the most esteemed individuals of Islamic history.”
Some groups have also criticized it for depicting the Prophet Muhammad, which is forbidden in Islam. In response to the complaints, the BBFC said: “Filmmakers are free to explore historical or controversial themes and events within their films.”
The BBFC couldn’t confirm whether The Lady Of Heaven’s tally was a record number of complaints for one film, but by our calculations, it’s the most received for any film in the last 15 years. On the ratings side, Christopher Nolan’s Batman sequel The Dark Knight has clocked the BBFC’s most complaints about rating with 364 from members of the public who said the film was too dark and too violent for children.
Elsewhere in the report, the BBFC said submissions were almost back to pre-pandemic levels, with the body classifying 1,057 feature films for cinema release. This was well up on the 659 films classified in 2021 and the 619 in 2020. 1,103 cinema features were classified in 2019.
“It was heartening to see the sector bouncing back in 2022,” the report said.
The BBFC also reported a 23% increase from the previous year in the number of pornographic films submitted.
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