G-rated Movies Top Money Makers of Summer - July 28, 2010

In spite of Hollywood’s determination to pump out R-rated films, it is family friendly movies that are topping the box offices so far this summer.  Only one R-rated film has topped $100 million.

Meanwhile, G-rated movies are drawing large crowds and earning massive profits. And it seems that industry experts just don’t get it.  For example, they predicted that the cartoon Despicable Me, about children who pray to be adopted (and have their prayers answered) and who change the heart of a cranky old man, would pull in $30.5 million on its first weekend.  Instead it grossed an estimated $60.1 million.

The long awaited Toy Story 3 has fared even better.  It has brought in over $339 million after its fourth weekend.  Two other kid-friendly movies, The Karate Kid and Ramona and Beezus have also earned their producers considerable sums.

Even movie reviewers are hoping that such films become more common. In her review of Ramona and Beezus for TV.com, Jane Boursaw writes: “In summary, Ramona and Beezus is a great family movie for kids aged six and older. There are no car crashes, no overly goofy characters, no dumb adults, no bratty kids, and no sexually-charged scenes. My hope is that other filmmakers will make similar movies, but my fear is that this particular brand of innocence is becoming extinct. I hope they prove me wrong.”

Boursaw might be pleasantly surprised.  According to The Hollywood Reporter’s Carl DiOrio “Films aimed at parents with kids have been so hot this summer that even executives marketing R-rated horror movies must be tempted to work a couple of bars of 'We Are Family' into promo spots.”

Hollywood execs are wondering how they could have missed the popularity of family friendly films.  Disney’s president of film distribution, Chuck Viance, thinks he knows where the problem lies – with a potential flaw in the method used to gauge interest in family films.  He said “The simplest answer is that the tracking doesn't include the young kids themselves.” 

In other words, while parents may not be interested in seeing a particular film, their children can be relentless nags.  Said a studio executive once that happens “the rest is history.”

The president of the Media Research Center, a conservative  watchdog organization based in Alexandria Virginia, says that it isn’t difficult to figure this all out. Brent Bozell recently wrote that “It happens over and over again. And still the ‘executives’ are caught off guard. Nobody needs a graphing calculator. Bring out the whole family, and you bring out a bigger audience.”

Bozell went on to ask “Why can't greedy Hollywood just look at the math and put their money where the American public's eyes want to go?"

Move reviewers like Jane Boursaw and millions of other parents around the world certainly hope they do.

For a family friendly take on movies, there are a couple of websites available: http://www.movieguide.org/ and http://www.pluggedin.com/  

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