Family-friendly movies continue to earn more at the box office

Movies such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier have proven more successful than R-rated movies or movies with offensive content, said Movieguide.[Photo credit: Disney]

It seems like more people are seeking family-friendly movies instead of R-rated ones, as movies with inspiring and clean content continue to earn more money both at the box office and on home video, according to the annual box office analysis conducted by Christian group Movieguide.

The 2015 Annual Report to the Entertainment Industry revealed that family-friendly movies averaged more than $56.69 million per movie in 2014 in America and Canada, but movies with the offensive, obscene, or anti-family, immoral content only averaged about $18.68 million. The same can be said for R-rated movies with an average of $18.81 million per movie.

Movieguide founder and publisher Ted Baehr said that  family-friendly movies tend to generate more earnings.  This was based on their analysis of the content of the top movies released by the major studios in Hollywood earning $500,000 or more, including the major independent studios.

"The evidence is abundantly clear," he said. "Moviegoers greatly prefer family-friendly movies."

Not only did they examine family movies and cartoons for children, but they also studied family-friendly movies with the cleanest, most inspiring, and least offensive content.

"Most people want to see Good conquer evil, Truth triumph over falsehood, Justice prevail over injustice, Liberty conquer tyranny, and Beauty overcome ugliness," he noted. "They also would like to take their whole family, including their grandparents, to the movies more often."

The study also found that movies released in 2014 with no sex, explicit nudity, and foul language earned on average more at the box office than movies with such content.

Examples of clean movies that triumphed in cinemas were Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, Big Hero 6, Frozen, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies, The Lego Movie, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Thor: The Dark World, and Guardians of the Galaxy.