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Are PG-13 Movies Really More Popular than Rated-R?
Yes they are! The end. Thank you for reading. Roll the credits… Just kidding, there is more to this story.
There is a common rationale that claims Rated-G movies are the most popular. Movies like Toy Story, Aladdin, and Finding Nemo receive the most views and subsequently make the most money for Hollywood because they appeal to kids.
The logic goes, if kids insist on a popular movie then they’ll nag their parents into taking them.
“Please, Please, Please! You have to take me! It’ll have to be during the opening weekend. The whole family will have to go. Is popcorn, soda and candy included??”
However, popular logic isn’t always the rule. To investigate this, I downloaded data from the Rotten Tomatoes website. I fired up my Tableau and I looked at the Top 200 movies of the last decade (2010–2019) in box office dollars.
To my surprise, Rated-G movies is the worst performing rating when it comes to box office dollars! It brought in a modest $862,512,852 over the last decade. That is 4.4% of the total box office — examined in the Top 200 sample.
What’s even more shocking was Rated-R movies was the second-worst performing rating. Between PG-13 and PG, you have over 78% of the box office dollars in the Top 200 list.
This goes to show you that despite critics preferring Rated-R movies, it was PG-13 movies that were far more popular.
There you have it folks. The people have voted with their pocketbooks and they’ve voted, “Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some Material May Be Inappropriate For Children Under 13.”
