It is the news that a particular kind of movie mogul has
been dreading: sex no longer sells. A new study has found that films
containing explicit sex or nudity do much worse at the box office, earning
nearly 40 per cent less on average than more wholesome movies.
An analysis of 1,120 cinematic releases over the past four
years has shown that films without sex scenes, such as Disney's Finding Nemo
or Toy Story 2, earned an average of $41.1 million (£22.3 million), while
films with sex have grossed 38 per cent less with an average of $16.7
million.
In 2003, the final year of the study, the gap was even
wider, with films without sex earning more than double those with explicit
scenes. The survey also demonstrated that an increasing number of films
carry a moral message, with 63 per cent of the top-grossing films since 2001
portraying edifying storylines that follow uplifting and redemptive plots.
In contrast, films with an "immoral or negative content"
such as Hannibal, the 2001 horror sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, or the
bawdy American Pie teen-trilogy, experience far lower box office returns.
The findings, taken from an analysis of box office earnings
in the US, were compiled for the Christian Film and Television Commission, a
viewers' campaign group, and published in its monthly magazine Movieguide.
The figures show that in 2003, for example, 78 films with
no sex averaged $37.6 million; 95 films with implied sex averaged $32.1
million; 71 films with briefly depicted sex averaged $25 million and 35
films with extensive, excessive or graphic sex averaged only $17.1 million.
Films from 2003 that did not depict nudity also fared
better, garnering an average of $34.6 million at the box office compared
with the $11.8 million raised by films which did include nude scenes.
Similar patterns also emerged for the box office returns for the previous
three years.
Dr Ted Baehr, the chairman of the Christian Film and
Television Commission, said: "This is a worldwide phenomenon. We found that
international figures followed the same logic, that the good guys finish
first. Clearly, sex does not sell as well as the mass media wants us to
believe.
"We've shown that there are big audiences for films that
meet the family criteria. The other attraction for movie makers is that it
costs less to make a character-driven drama than a big blow-up starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger."
Although some of the disparity can be explained by the
ratings given to films - for example, an "18" rating would substantially
limit the size of the audience by excluding younger cinema-goers or family
groups - there is considerable overlap.
Even family films that imply sex or depict it briefly are
trounced by their no-sex rivals at the box office. For example, the 2002
release My Big Fat Greek Wedding, was rated "PG" for Parental Guidance and
featured passionate kissing, a naked couple in bed and several allusions to
sex.
Despite being marketed as a family-friendly film, it
grossed £13 million in the UK, approximately 46 per cent less than
Spiderman, which contained no sex scenes but was given a "12" certificate.
It grossed £28 million in the UK.
The rise in popularity of films that are moral in tone
looks set to continue after the success of Mel Gibson's film of Jesus
Christ's last days, The Passion. Despite the dialogue being entirely in
Latin and Aramaic, it has grossed more than $300 million since its release
last month in America. It opened in UK cinemas on March 14.
Sheridan Morley, the broadcaster and critic, believes that
British audiences were tiring of action thrillers. "I am surprised by these
findings because they go against all the wisdom of recent Hollywood," he
said. "It just shows, once again, how out of touch Hollywood is with what
the audience wants.
"They are still making Schwarzenegger-type epics when it is
quite clear that we would much rather be looking at Merchant Ivory films.
The audience is usually ahead of the film makers and I would think that the
American audience is representative of the world audience.
"Films have been totally mechanised in recent years and are
no longer about people. Now we've got so hi-tech that we've lost the sense
of real human relationships. Cinema needs to get back to people."
Will Self, a film critic and columnist for London's Evening
Standard, dismissed the findings as "politically tendentious. The 'moral'
films that they examine tend to be films with huge publicity campaigns,
merchandising tie-ins and largely aimed at family audiences, so that is far
more likely to explain their box office success", he said.
Mr Self added that Americans were more likely to enjoy
films with a religious or moral content because Christian belief remained
much more entrenched in the US. "We've certainly seen that with the box
office success of The Passion in America, which is unlikely to be repeated
here," he said. "We are a secular country, thank God."
