Monday, March 13, 2017

Box Office Breakdown of MPAA Ratings, 1980-2015


For years I've discussed the slow death of the PG-rated live-action film, and the ascendancy of the PG-13 rated live-action film, but never really had numbers to back up my assumptions. It took much longer than I was expecting, but I finally finished my box office analysis.

I took each year's top ten films at the box office (starting in 1980), and calculated the percentage of the year's box office per MPAA rating, and even broke out PG and G between live-action and animated films. The data shows my assumptions were accurate--PG-rated live-action films dominate the box office in the early 1980's until PG-13 films began to take over. Today, PG-rated live-action films barely make a blip on the radar.

Many thoughtful articles have been written about the ascendancy of PG-13 at the expense of live-action PG films. Here are just a few: