G-rated Exports – Riiiight…..
Clearly there is still a big market for sex and violence; three of the top 10 movies in the United States last year were rated R. After all, sex and violence are universal themes. Filmgoers don’t need a translator to understand a bedroom scene or a punch to the jaw. When Rambo mowed down dozens of bad guys with his machine gun, teenage boys around the world got a thrill. The bullets spoke for the character, which is probably best, since even people from his native country had trouble understanding Sylvester Stallone’s grunts. Many of those same teenage boys would surely have loved to sneak into the theater to hear the grunts in “Showgirls.”
So why should Hollywood start toning down the vulgarity meter? Because movies that rely less on sex and violence stand a better chance of success in the future in developing countries like China, India and Mexico, for three reasons.
[…] Todd G. Buchholz, an economic adviser in the administration of George H. W. Bush, is the author of “Bringing the Jobs Home.”
See, for example, Disney Rethinks a Staple: Family Films but Decidedly Not Rated G.
The incentives are clear. Films rated PG and PG-13 (parental guidance suggested and parents strongly cautioned) drew 75 percent to 90 percent of the domestic box office, compared with 10 percent or less for G-rated, or family, films, among the 20 highest-grossing movies for each of the last four years, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.