diff --git a/runtests.py b/runtests.py
index 2e9a9de23..c9bcbbba2 100755
--- a/runtests.py
+++ b/runtests.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import sys
 import os
 import shutil
 import warnings
+import argparse
 
 from django.core.management import execute_from_command_line
 
@@ -11,22 +12,45 @@ from django.core.management import execute_from_command_line
 os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = 'wagtail.tests.settings'
 
 
+def make_parser():
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
+    parser.add_argument('--deprecation', choices=['all', 'pending', 'imminent', 'none'], default='pending')
+    parser.add_argument('--postgres', action='store_true')
+    parser.add_argument('--elasticsearch', action='store_true')
+    parser.add_argument('rest', nargs='*')
+    return parser
+
+
+def parse_args(args=None):
+    return make_parser().parse_args(args)
+
+
 def runtests():
-    # Don't ignore DeprecationWarnings
-    warnings.simplefilter('default', DeprecationWarning)
-    warnings.simplefilter('default', PendingDeprecationWarning)
+    args = parse_args()
 
-    args = sys.argv[1:]
+    only_wagtail = r'^wagtail(\.|$)'
+    if args.deprecation == 'all':
+        # Show all deprecation warnings from all packages
+        warnings.simplefilter('default', DeprecationWarning)
+        warnings.simplefilter('default', PendingDeprecationWarning)
+    elif args.deprecation == 'pending':
+        # Show all deprecation warnings from wagtail
+        warnings.filterwarnings('default', category=DeprecationWarning, module=only_wagtail)
+        warnings.filterwarnings('default', category=PendingDeprecationWarning, module=only_wagtail)
+    elif args.deprecation == 'imminent':
+        # Show only imminent deprecation warnings from wagtail
+        warnings.filterwarnings('default', category=DeprecationWarning, module=only_wagtail)
+    elif args.deprecation == 'none':
+        # Deprecation warnings are ignored by default
+        pass
 
-    if '--postgres' in args:
+    if args.postgres:
         os.environ['DATABASE_ENGINE'] = 'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2'
-        args.remove('--postgres')
 
-    if '--elasticsearch' in args:
+    if args.elasticsearch:
         os.environ.setdefault('ELASTICSEARCH_URL', 'http://localhost:9200')
-        args.remove('--elasticsearch')
 
-    argv = sys.argv[:1] + ['test'] + args
+    argv = [sys.argv[0], 'test'] + args.rest
     try:
         execute_from_command_line(argv)
     finally: