The movie contained segments of rough sadomasochistic sex, battery, rape and murder. Pre-teens and early teens who viewed the movie looked pale and frozen in their seats as the scenes flashed before them. Generally, although parental guidance is advised, PG-13 movies play to almost everyone except the very young. Theater managers know kids are smart. They know that left to their own devices, kids may buy a ticket for Tarzan and go instead to a different auditorium with less age-appropriate fare.
Parents know it, too.
Yet, even managers are amazed when kids show up with notes from parents apparently seeking entry for a child. Or, when parents voluntarily take a child to a movie that is far beyond a child's experience. They aren't appropriate fare for impressionable young minds even in the midst of this nation's relaxed standards of personal behavior. Movie theaters are not babysitting services and theater staffers are not jailers. It's up to parents to monitor what their kids watch.