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"More Consumers Don't Want to See R-rated Films"

Posted 16 months ago|10 comments|881 views
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"There was a study out from the Los Angeles Times that 74 percent of the young women [and 58 percent of the young boys] don't want to see sex, violence, nudity, [or] profanity in films," Baehr cites. Since "consumers don't want to see R-rated films," he wonders who filmmakers are making them for."
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Business/Defau...%29

"The immorality being produced by "Hollywood" is well-known throughout the world. Millions are affected by it. According to polls, many viewers would like to see Hollywood produce cleaner movies. So, if a great many consumers want more wholesome programming, why hasn't Hollywood changed?"
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/e...

So why is Hollywood continuing to produce more R Rated films with their declining support? Well, just look how far they've come.... back in the day when our nations had higher moral standards, Hollywood took-off; maybe they are just waiting out the dip in the demand, or maybe they are counting on future viewers to buy into the market.
One thing that's for sure, the industry is pretty greedy...
it won't be too long before they notice the funds are drying up!

Another thing to consider is that lately some private movie makers have entered the scene, like the makers of "Facing the Giants" and "Flywheel" ...many other great classics and new movies on DVD can be found at LifeWay Books...
http://www.lifeway.com/n/Movies-&-Videos...

I do agree that if we are to see more family flicks, we need to support them... yet as a parent some of the lines between PG13 and R have become blurred if not erased!
I think that some of these R films are merely marketed as a lesser rating by removing that extra scene or F bomb. One thing I do know, is that I and my wife will preview a movie or check out some trusted reviews before we endorse it.

A great tool to use in MOVIE REVIEW is 'Plugged In' ...we use it all the time to get the details that other reviews may have forgotten to mention...
check it out before your next movie-night-out...
http://www.pluggedin.com/

Check out Focus on the Family's 'Plugged In' MOVIE REVIEWS on YouTube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuFqbppLK...
UPDATE - 16 months ago
"2011 R-rated Success Reports are Misleading
Written by David Outten"
http://www.movieguide.org/articles/main/...
UPDATE - 13 months ago
"Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper
http://dwynrhh6bluza.cloudfront.net/reso...
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COMMENTS
Perfect Horizon
Perfect Horizon
Chicago, IL
16 months ago: I think you are confused about this. Directors and Studios make films. The MPAA rates them. Some directors/writers/studios just want to produce their work, whether or not they will be rated R.

That said, looking back at 2011, of the top 20 grossing films of last year: 2 were rated R (Hangover 2 and Bridesmaids, ironically they are basically the same movie); 13 were rated PG-13; 3 were rated PG, and 2 were G.

Now personally I don't have kids but I like a lot of Pixar movies.

I'm sure it is difficult as a parent to find things "age appropriate" for your kids, but that said I'm not sure that studios need to focus more on making movies for families (in 2011 5 of the top 20 movies were "kids movies" or "Family Movies": Cars2, Rio, Smurfs, Kung Fu Panda2, Puss in Boots...Rango was 21st last year in total box office). There was also Harry Potter (depending on the age of your children this may be appropriate). So, in 2011 20% of the top movies were "family movies". Family groups account for 18% of movie goers, so this number seems to be on target. At the same time 75% of people age 18-24 reported attending a movie 2-4 every 30 days...these are the people that go to movies the most.

Most of the time its safe to say that "college" kids would rather see Harry Potter & X-Men instead of Rio or Smurfs. Studios play to their audiences. Some movies are rated R and some people like them. The vast majority of big hit movies are rated PG-13 and based on Popular Books (Harry Potter, Twilight) or Comic Books (seriously, go google "most anticipated movies of 2012"...nearly all comic books, super hero or popular book). These are the topics that are popular among the largest group of movie goers. Making movies is BIG business and they want to make money. I wouldn't expect to see a change in the films that come out.
16 months ago: PH,

Check out the following article about what is a success in the film industry by ratio...

"2011 R-rated Success Reports are Misleading...
Written by David Outten
The Wrap (A popular Entertainment Industry website) claims that the "success" of BRIDESMAIDS will create a whole new genre of R-rated "gross-out women's comedy." BRIDESMAIDS brought in $169 million.

THE BLIND SIDE brought in $256 million. Where is the talk of a new genre for inspirational Christian women?

The truth is that even with the success this year of THE HANGOVER 2 and BRIDESMAIDS only three of the top twenty moves were R-rated.

It's not because so few were made. Forty-seven percent of the 2011 movies rated by the MPAA were given an R-rating. By this ratio, you'd expect five of the top ten to be R-rated. There was only one."
http://www.movieguide.org/articles/main/...
Perfect Horizon
Perfect Horizon
Chicago, IL
16 months ago: Did you even read my response?
Perfect Horizon
Perfect Horizon
Chicago, IL
16 months ago: VAST majority of big time successful movies = PG-13 and based on Comic Books or Popular Books (i.e. Twilight, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit...guess what: the Blind Side was also based on a book).
16 months ago: PH,

You said... "I think you are confused about this. Directors and Studios make films. The MPAA rates them. Some directors/writers/studios just want to produce their work, whether or not they will be rated R."

...not so. Some producers will increase the ratings of particular movies from G to higher to get a bigger audience... and others will cut films to fit better markets as well... seems the pressure is placed on producers...
Perfect Horizon
Perfect Horizon
Chicago, IL
16 months ago: Did you read the rest of the post?

And some directors will not remove certain scenes from movies no matter what (Requiem for a Dream for example (another fantastic movie too)). Producers don't rate their own movies...the MPAA does. Often times directors of certain films will appeal a rating as being too high (Requiem for a Dream was originally rated NC17 by the MPAA, Arronofsky appealed, was denied and instead released the film unrated, he was later granted an R rating for the video release). Nothing I have found has shown any producer or studio has ever requested that the MPAA give them a higher rating (This would generally only apply to G rated movies being given PG in your argument I would guess...but producers of G rated movies already know who the target audience is...and it's not people who care/know the meaning of ratings.)
Perfect Horizon
Perfect Horizon
Chicago, IL
16 months ago: Perhaps the problem is that so few rated R movies are good. Most of them are HORRIBLE horror movies (old horror movies like The Shining were amazing, new ones are so stupid that they are not scarry but rather funny).

Some of my favorite movies happen to be rated R:

Garden State (my favorite movie of all time (very close second is Alice in Wonderland))

The Matrix
Saving Private Ryan
300
Jerry Maguire
Air Force One
Sideways
Rain Man

I didn't like the movie but the number 1 Rated R movie of all time (#16 grossing All Time) is Passion of the Christ.
16 months ago: I agree that one of the reasons is that the R movies produced are just poor quality, however the demographic to watch these films has narrowed. Also I was introducing 2 great resources: Plugged In Movie Reviews, and LifeWay book stores... these are a great resource for families.

I have watched most on your list and enjoyed them as well...

The Matrix
Saving Private Ryan
300
Jerry Maguire
Air Force One

...however Rain Man had too much over-done profanity for my taste, but the story line of the movie was great, as well as Dustin Hoffman!

What didn't you like about the Passion of the Christ?
Perfect Horizon
Perfect Horizon
Chicago, IL
16 months ago: I agree. I'm just saying that people recognize that stupid R rated films (for example: "The Devil Inside") are just dumb "horror" films. There are some R rated movies that deal with adult subject matter or are graphic but are so for a reason. 300 is a fan-freakin-tastic movie...its also very gory...it deserves an R rating but also is really good.

Passion of the Christ was just a bad movie. Bad acting, bad script, it tried WAY to hard. If I were Christian that movie would offend me.

Have you not seen Garden State or did you just not care for it? (It's not a kids movie fyi).

As for you introducing those websites...I think that is a good thing. My point is that you are doing the right thing by reading reviews, and checking sites like that before taking your kids out to the movies. My point is that it is the parents responsibility to make sure their kids are watching things that are appropriate for them. Movie studios didn't force anyone to have a kid...they shouldn't be expected to censor their content because some parents are lazy.
Perfect Horizon
Perfect Horizon
Chicago, IL
16 months ago: http://www.kidsinmind.com/

This site is similar but the reviews are not based on Christian values but general appropriateness for kids.

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