Someone recently said they thought R-rated comedies do better at the box office than those with a PG or a PG-13 rating. At the time the thought made me scratch my head and wonder if that were truly the case. So, I headed on over to the Box Office Mojo site and decided to check the numbers myself. A quick scan of the numbers quickly proves the point wrong. As a matter of fact, that’s simply not the case.
The weekend box off numbers for this year alone reveal a very different story. The Weekend Box Office list for 2008 has just two true comedy genre type movies hitting the number one spot. Semi-Pro, a R-rated offering from Will Ferrell, and the PG-13 movie Meet the Spartans are the only two so-called comedies to hit the number one spot. Then, even though those two movies did hit the number one spot, they quickly fell when people discovered they were nothing more than rude and crude and a waste of time. Semi Pro fell so quickly that many say it was a studio/Will Ferrell failure.
So, what’s really going on here?
The line of thinking about R-rated movies probably comes from the fact that Will Ferrell’s rude and crude Step Brothers did moderately well during it’s opening weekend. Then, on top of that, the pot-head stoner R-rated movie Pineapple Express appears to be heading for the number one spot this weekend. It opened strong on Wednesday hitting the number one actually pushing The Dark Knight out of the number one spot. But lets remember, that’s just one day. Will the Pineapple Express outsell the Caped Crusader this week? It very well might do so. But, lets also remember the Batman flick has already pulled in over $410 million dollars. It’s had a long run at the number one spot, and by this time, people are wanting to see something else.
Now, lets couple that with the fact that while the R-rated comedies might pull out of the gate quickly, they very seldom run the whole race. They quickly fall out of the top ten, sometimes like a rock. For example, the so-called great Step Brothers movie, which did surprise me with it’s showing last week, has quickly dropped from favor. According to The Fandango Five advance weekend ticket sales has only 1% of those buying tickets in advance buying tickets for Step Brothers. In other words, people have quickly discovered the Step Brothers are not welcome in their home. The entire top five ticket sales for Fandango looks like this;
- 1% Step Brothers
- 1% Mummy
- 9% Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
- 16% The Dark Knight
- 65% Pineapple Express
Some will say the advance ticket sales for the Pineapple Express proves the comment that R-rated comedies do better at the box office than those with a PG or a PG-13 rating. But, reality is this, there’s no staying power. While the Pineapple Express might do well this weekend, it will not have the staying power, nor pull in near the amount of box office dollars that other movies, with a more family-friendly focus, will do in the long run.
Survey after survey, and statistic after statistic, reveals that the family-friendly movies always do better at the box office than the rude and crude. While they may not make a huge splash during opening weekend, the shelf-life is much longer, making them money makers by the time they disappear from the theater marquee. This is why I always encourage people to see such movies on opening weekend. Don’t wait until the crowds die down, or until it comes out on DVD. Like it or not, Hollywood lives and dies by the opening weekend numbers. As a result, if people don’t support such movies, it creates the illusion that R-rated flicks pull in more money. Such is simply not the case.
Enjoy the show!
Dr. Rus
