The go-to classification for studios releasing animated movies today is PG, and last year they accounted for five of the 10 highest-grossing films in that category. What’s a family film without a fart joke or 12, anyway?
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And Disney knows from “Toy Story 3” that a G-rated movie can score big at the box office. It’s possible some teens see G-rated movies as “kids stuff” that they’re way too cool for.
History says G, since “Brave” and “The Incredibles” are the only PG-rated Pixar films so far. But Disney has yet to decide whether Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur” will roll out at Thanksgiving with a G or a PG. The G rating is going the way of the dinosaur. “Make a good movie, and you can’t keep it down,” she said. Graves said that while the board ignores financial impact when rating films, she recalled former MPAA chief Jack Valenti addressing the relationship between box office and ratings years ago. But today parents are much more aware of the ramifications, so our ratings reflect that.” “Back in the ’60s and ’70s it was seen as just a good time. “We’re much tougher on drug use than we used to be,” said Graves, who has been in her post since 1988. But that’s an area in which the board’s ratings have evolved along with American parents’ attitudes. If the character says “Let’s f-,” it’s likely getting an R.Īlso Read: Study Says Parents Who Watch Sex and Violence Are Desensitized Tooĭrug use draws an automatic PG-13, too. Using a sexually derived expletive is one thing using it in a sexual way is another. If the violence is pervasive or the nudity is sexual, an R is more likely. Try to find a G-rated war movie, for example.Ī single scene depicting violence or nudity will typically draw a PG-13 rating.
Not just because they’re the most lucrative, but because life is unrated, and telling a story right frequently requires including sex or violence. It’s not a coincidence that most films are rated PG-13. With “The Other Woman,” Fox took the required steps and the Cameron Diaz comedy was released with a PG-13 rating rather than the R originally issued by the board. When a rating doesn’t match expectations - as was the case with Fox’s “The Other Woman” last spring - the studio can appeal, and a back-and-forth process of discussions and film tweaks to address the board’s concerns begins. Contracts with directors today frequently contain clauses requiring that the film delivered will draw a specific rating.Īlso Read: Why ‘Horrible Bosses 2′ Was Tough Sell at Thanksgiving Box Office: Here’s the Answer “We almost always know what rating a movie will get when we make decisions on budgets and green lighting movies,” said Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution at Twentieth Century Fox.
The rating a film receives is rarely a surprise to the studio that submits it to the MPAA, Between 700 and 800 movies are rated each year, and typically fewer than a dozen are appealed. Movies rated R returned about $42 million at the box office on average last year, while the average haul of PG ($82 million) and PG-13 movies ($79 million) was roughly double that. But an R-rated movie, which requires an adult to accompany anyone under 17, has a necessarily smaller potential audience.Īlso Read: ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Shatters Sales Record for R-Rated Movies at Fandango It’s a numbers game. Young and older men and women - “all four quadrants” as they’re known in the industry - can attend a G, PG or PG-13 movie. Giving parents the tools they need is what it’s all about, she said.īut ratings have an undeniable impact on how many tickets a movie sells. It shouldn’t matter to the parents if a film will or won’t make any money,” Joan Graves, chairwoman of the ratings board, told TheWrap Tuesday. “One of the things we’re careful not to pay any attention to is money. The board makes its decisions on the basis of graphic sex or violence, drug use and dark themes without regard to box office impact. The ratings are issued by the Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) Classification and Rating Administration prior to a movie’s release to provide parents with guidelines as they decide what films their children should see. As for the remaining two classifications, just two movies rolled out with a G rating and none with an NC-17 tag were released last year.Īlso Read: Despite RealD’s Struggles, 3D Is About to Go Boom That’s according to an informal survey by TheWrap of the relationship between ratings and box office, which also revealed that films rated R delivered about half of what the two aforementioned categories did at the box office. Movies with PG-13 ratings like “The Hunger Games Mockingjay” and “Guardians of the Galaxy were by far the biggest moneymakers for Hollywood last year, but films with PG ratings such as “Maleficent” and “The LEGO Movie” on average delivered more bang for the buck.