57% of MPAA rated films in past 50 years have been 'r-rated'

A new survey reveals explicitly-adult rated movies have been the MPAA's most common rated in its 50 year history, proving that Hollywood is a sucker for purely adult flicks with mature and more extreme content to aid the storytelling

Mike Myers is a friendly face in 'Halloween' (Universal Pictures/Blumhouse)

by Jack Linsdell

Today saw the announcement of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the country's main film classification organisation, 50th year anniversary. And with it, came a review of all the flicks it has rated since it began in 1968, which brought up some surprising results.

It revealed that out of the 29,791 motion pictures the MPAA has rated, 57% (or 17,202) of these they have given an 'r-rating' to. Now, this is surprising stat for the simple fact that it points out a core trend that lies at the very centre of Hollywood and makes us understand the industry in a different way. Indeed, we believe the studio system of the film industry is run by explicitly kid/family targeted and rated flicks including animation, superhero and science-fiction genres. And, because these flicks make the most in raw global box office receipts they are now viewed as being the basis of what holds Hollywood together and that this must mean the closer a film to a PG-rating, the more popular it will be with audiences. However, what this survey shows is that actually this is just a surface trend and that at the core of Hollywood is studio genre fare that explicitly depicts or is based around adult/mature content, garnering films that 'r-rating'. 

Yes, Twentieth Century Fox's Ryan Reynolds-starring Deadpool flicks have proved that 'r-rated' films can deliver gigantic global box office totals (both 'Deadpool' and 'Deadpool 2' earned over $700 million worldwide in 2015 and 2018 respectively) but normally these explicitly adult rated films get left on the side-lines. But, now it's clear that if the MPAA has rated the majority of the films that have premiered in North America since 1968, that we get more adult-rated flicks than we do kid-targeted ones. From this, we can see that perhaps filmmakers believe that by showing/basing their films around adult content, be it sexual, violence, language or drug misuse in nature, can enhance the stories they are telling and make the films grounded further in our reality. For example, when you take Bradley Cooper's recent musical-remake, 'A Star is Born', its clear to see that when filmmakers deliberately use adult content in their films they are doing it for a key artistic reason. That flick contained multiple uses of strong language and depiction of drug misuse which got it the 'r-rating' (or 15 in the UK), but also thematically dealt with strong and mature themes of suicide for example. Now, with this adult content, this Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper led-flick is arguably far more emotionally impactful to the audience. However, it also grounds it in our reality much more than say the more upbeat and fantastical, PG-rated 'The Greatest Showman' or 'Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again', perhaps making the adult audience connect with it more. Either way, and no matter the viewpoint here, this makes an interesting conversation to have in exploring if adult content can truly allow filmmakers to not feel restricted.

'Mission: Impossible Fallout' writer, director and co-producer Christopher McQuarrie recently stated in an interview (an I'm paraphrasing here) that his restriction to a 12 rating meant he could only use that one F-bomb and had to scale down the violence and sustained threat, feeling restricted in telling the story he wanted to. Not that this has affected the quality of the Tom Cruise-actioner, which is outstanding, but McQuarrie has been clear that the not being allowed by the studio to depict more adult content/themes in his franchise flick made him feel creatively restricted and envy's TV shows that can show much more mature content without being affected in terms of a ratings system. So, maybe there is a trend being shown here that studios have made more 'r-rated' flicks over the past 50 years because filmmakers need adult content to make their stories more meaningful/impactful.

It is worth noting that some of the 'r-rated' classification the MPAA has provided to films is down to a lack of middle-ground in the rating system in North America, until the PG-13 rating was brought into effect in 1984. However, there is still a significant portion of its history after that year and therefore although a consideration to take into account, it isn't crucial enough to defer the main point I'm making here. 

Yes, studios need the kids/families cinema tickets and the billion-dollar grossing pictures the flicks that are explicitly targeted at them they become. And, yes the money these films make helps finance the lower-budget, adult-rated flicks that Hollywood also produces. However, this survey does show us that actually, although smaller in global grosses, 'r-rated' films are the most common that studios produce annually and maybe this points to filmmakers wanting to include adult content to better tell their stories or ground them further in our reality.

Either way, on the 50th anniversary of America's film classification organisation, this survey indeed poses some very interesting questions...