An annual study shows that in 2011 American moviegoers still preferred movies with strong conservative content or values over movies with liberal or leftist values, by nearly a six-to-one margin.
The impact was felt overseas and on home video as well.
Every year, Movieguide®, the family guide to movies and entertainment, conducts a comprehensive study of the content of the major movies released by Hollywood and the major independent film studios to see what kind of content moviegoers in the United States and overseas prefer.
Movieguide®’s annual study of the political content in movies shows that movies with Pro-American, patriotic, capitalist, anti-socialist, anti-communist content and values and ethics reflecting traditional biblical morality make much more money per movie than movies with Anti-American, anti-patriotic, welfare statist, Marxist, secular, atheist, and/or very strong perverse content or values reflecting a radical, anti-human view.
In fact, movies with conservative values and content made almost six times as much money as movies with liberal, leftist, or statist values and content, averaging $59 million per movie in 2011 versus only $10.7 million per movie.
The more conservative movies in 2011 included such titles as “Captain America,” “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” “The Artist,” “Monte Carlo,” “Soul Surfer,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” “Battle: Los Angeles,” and “Mars Needs Moms.” The more liberal, leftist, or statist movies included such movies like “X-Men: First Class,” “Red State,” “Super 8,” “J. Edgar,” “Bad Teacher,” the “Glee” concert movie, “Rampart,” and “The Ides of March.”
“This is not only true in the United States,” said Dr. Ted Baehr, founder of Movieguide®, who presented highlights from Movieguide®’s Annual Report to the Entertainment Industry at the 20th Annual Faith & Values Awards Gala Friday night at the Universal Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. “It’s also true overseas and with the theatrical movies among the biggest selling DVDs.”
For example, of the 30 Movies Making $100 Million or More Overseas in 2011, 50% had strong conservative content or elements reflecting traditional moral values, but only 10% had strong politically correct, humanist/atheist, or statist content. Also, the more conservative “Transformers” and “Mission: Impossible” movies made far more money overseas than the more liberal “Super 8” and the new “X-Men” movie.
In addition, among the Top 25 DVD Sales for Theatrical Movies at the end of 2011, 52% had at least some solid or strong American, patriotic, or other conservative values while only 8% had at least some solid or strong leftist or statist values.
“The success of conservative values in 2011 was no mistake,” Dr. Baehr asserted. “It’s been true ever since we began doing our political analysis 10 years ago in 2003.”
Dr. Baehr noted that the “vast majority” of the world’s 7 billion people are religious, not secular, with about 2.3 billion people saying they’re Christian, about 1.6 billion saying they are Muslim, 875 million saying they are Hindu, and 385 million saying they are Buddhist.
He pointed out that the combined conservative versus liberal/leftist categories are particularly important because they factor out any anomalies in the database. They also show that, overall, conservative movies with solid or strong traditional moral and political values now earn five or six times more money than liberal/leftist movies with solid or strong non-traditional, secular humanist, or statist values.
“People want good to overcome evil, justice to prevail over injustice, and liberty to conquer tyranny,” Dr. Baehr concluded. “They respond to strong heroes and even strong heroines, but they are turned off by radical social engineering and big government programs full of faceless bureaucrats.”
Below is the breakdown of the particular conservative and non-conservative categories analyzed by Movieguide®, with the Average Box Office per movie in the U.S. and Canada.
Conservative Movies versus Leftist Movies, 2010-2011 in U.S. and Canada
Box Office Sources: The Numbers, IMDB, and BoxOfficeMojo.
** Political Content for 2011
|
Content
|
Avg. B.O. 2011
|
|
Anti-Communist Content
|
$57,436,438
|
|
Strong Pro-Capitalist Content
|
$60,300,281
|
|
Very Strong Biblical Morality*
|
$54,488,404
|
|
Strong Patriotic/Pro-American Movies
|
$68,064,258
|
|
Strong Anti-Capitalist Content
|
$8,295,805
|
|
Strong Anti-Patriotic/Anti-American Movies
|
$28,983,322
|
|
Pro-Communist Content
|
$23,760,625
|
|
Strong Politically Correct Content
|
$10,247,747
|
|
Pro-Socialist Content
|
$2,565,606
|
|
Very Strong Pro-Atheism
|
$7,523,606
|
|
Very Strong Pro-Homosexual Content
|
$4,671,694
|
|
Very Strong Feminism
|
$621,172
|
|
Content
|
Avg. B.O. 2011
|
|
All Conservative/Moral Categories
|
$59,022,331
|
|
All Liberal/Leftist Categories
|
$10,665,555
|
** Political Content for 2010
|
Content
|
Avg. B.O. 2010
|
|
Anti-Communist Content
|
$138,874,274
|
|
Strong Pro-Capitalist Content
|
$86,165,368
|
|
Very Strong Biblical Morality*
|
$77,981,393
|
|
Strong Patriotic/Pro-American Movies
|
$66,169,777
|
|
Strong Anti-Capitalist Content
|
$13,764,104
|
|
Strong Anti-Patriotic/Anti-American Movies
|
$7,950,815
|
|
Pro-Communist Content
|
$36,662,189
|
|
Strong Politically Correct Content
|
$22,655,583
|
|
Any Pro-Socialist Content
|
$30,479,077
|
|
Very Strong Pro-Atheism
|
$6,608,902
|
|
Very Strong Pro-Homosexual Content
|
$15,092,680
|
|
Very Strong Feminism
|
$19,594,537
|
|
Content
|
Avg. B.O. 2010
|
|
All Conservative/Moral Categories
|
$84,756,932
|
|
All Liberal/Leftist Categories
|
$17,938,200
|
* Movieguide® believes that the basic moral principles in both the New Testament and the Hebrew Scriptures are the same, though individual Bible-believing, monotheistic Jews and Christians, or individual churches, synagogues, and denominations, may differ greatly (often depending on external non-biblical influences) on the issue of what moral values the Bible teaches, not only in the past, but also in the present time and in the future. The term Biblical Morality (or Traditional Biblical Values) refers to MOVIEGUIDE®’s traditional, grammatical, literary, and historical understanding of what the Bible teaches, morally speaking. The anti-communist content includes movies that attacked totalitarian systems of big government resembling the socialist ideology of Marxism.
** The count is for the content categories. Some movies appear in more than one category.
For more details concerning Movieguide®’s 2011 political study and its political studies for 2002-2010, please contact Dr. Ted Baehr or Dr. Tom Snyder at (805) 383-2000, ext. 303.
For highlights of Movieguide®’s 2012 Annual Report to the Entertainment Industry, including results of its comprehensive study of what Hollywood movies earned in 2011, please contact us at the above phone number.
You may also email Tom at tom@movieguide.org.
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
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