Well, at least for PG rated films. There was a study done recently and the results were presented at the ShoWest conference going on in Las Vegas. According to the study, PG movies with LESS swearing in the do significantly better business than the ones that have more swearing in them.
Yahoo news gives us this:
“The reality is that profanity, within PG, is the big demarcation between box office winner and box office loser,” research and marketing director Dan O’Toole said at ShoWest, a conference where studios unveil upcoming movie lineups. “Parents are choosing PG films for their kids that have very, very low levels of profanity. We’re talking one-third the level of the average PG film,” he said.
I’m not really sure what to think of that. Is there really a big difference between how much swearing is in 1 PG rated movie to another PG rated movie? Wouldn’t they be pretty similar? I mean, I just assume if a movie is a straight PG then there probably isn’t much swearing in it to begin with. I know they can’t drop the “F” bomb… but how many times can y ou say “shit” in a PG movie and still get away with it?
speedracer got away with it.
We used to use screenit.com back in the day when I was a kid because my parents were so protective of what I saw in films.
It actually is a VERY good website for those concerned with offensive content in movies.
@Kate
Screenit.com is the website that counts every swear word, use of drugs or alcohol, sexual content, violence, impressionable behavior, and characters as role models. I shit you not, there is a category called “characters as role models”.
I’m curious how parents know how much swearing is in a movie to begin with…word of mouth? Are there websites out there that tell parents exactly how many of each kind of swear word are in each movie? That wouldn’t surprise me too much actually…
When did Indiana Jones become of kids movie? These kids nowadays didn’t grow with the 80’s stuff we did, movies now are soft and weak PG garbage, all the companies want is to make alot of money(who wouldn’t?), and alienate adults, that’s why I don’t waste my money seeing them. Haji
This post lends credence to my theory that Indy 4 will NOT be the biggest movie of the year. Yeah, Indy’s popular, but parents don’t want to take little kids to a violent movie. PIxar’s Wall-E is safe and appealing for a much broader audience than Indy 4. Bet my butt Wall-E wins the year.
When talk about swearing in movies you have to look at the MPAA and how they look at it. They may allow words like shit and damn into PG movies because they are common and affect the audience less (Not as vulgar of curse words). But if there is F-bombs left and right it turns the audience off because of its vulgarity. Just look at the defection of the F-word or should I say lack of one. It has a different defection depending on what part of speech it is use in. Most of the time it is used as a reference to sex; mother F-er, go F yourself, ect. Since it can mean so many things and most often or not referee to sex it turns people off when they here it in a movie. Therefore yes “strong language” will make box office number go down because who like to here fuck every five minutes.
I sometimes feel too much profanity in a film can make the film less interesting, like Rob Zombie films who seems to have cornered the market on F-Bombs (like Devil’s Rejects which has, what, 400 swear words or something?). On the other hand, I really despise these kinds of marketing tools that studio and producers will squish more and more life out of a film to reel in better profits. So, while I agree, and it is obviously true, I think its best that the studios don’t know that its true.
You know, the best movies I’ve recently seen are rated “R” and both had virtually no profanity in them at all –
The Royal Tennenbaums
No Country for Old Men
This just proves that you don’t need excessive profanity in a movie to make it good. In fact (and trust me, I’m not a prude) too much profanity brings a film down (Gone Baby Gone).
Well son of a bitch! That’s really no surprise. There are still concerned parents out there (contrary to popular belief) who don’t want their kids to hear swearing.
No wonder POTC made so much at the box office.
The most swearing I’ve heard in a recent PG movie has been shit and damn.
Yah! first comment.
Spaceballs got away with saying shit 15 times. And The Sandlot. And Back to the Future Parts 1,2, and 3