Film Foundation Study Proves Family-Friendly Films Make Profits
by Mary Rettig
June 9, 2005
(AgapePress) - The Dove Foundation, an organization that encourages the production of family-friendly movies, has just released a study on the profitability of feature films comparing movies by their ratings. And according to the research, says Foundation founder and chairman Dick Rolfe, G-rated movies make far more money on average than their R-rated counterparts. The study conducted by the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Dove Foundation found that G-rated movies are 11 times more profitable than movies that have a "Restricted" rating. Nevertheless, Rolfe says, the big studio execs and major movie industry producers still do not seem to be getting the message that family films can be the biggest money-makers.
"Now, what Hollywood has always argued," Rolfe says, "is that that smaller audience spends more money in the theaters, so they actually make more money by pandering to a smaller audience. Well, our study proves that that's not true." In fact, he notes, "Over a 15-year period, the average R-rated movie only made 7 million dollars, and the average G-rated movie made 79 million dollars during that same time."
The Dove Foundation's study is a ground-breaking one, the founder points out, because it offers a new approach to examining the entertainment industry's bottom line. "Nobody has ever done this before," he explains. "Everybody has always focused on the gross box office of a film but never on its profitability. So we bring a new formula to the scene, and it has been received very well."
Now, Rolfe hopes the Foundation's findings will find a similar reception within the film industry. The study was commissioned, he points out, in hopes of getting Hollywood's attention, because in the past 15 years, more than half of all the movies produced in Hollywood were rated R.
Of course, there is the occasional glimmers of hope that, even in Tinseltown, reality is slowly sinking in. The Dove Foundation chairman says last year's Bible-based blockbuster, The Passion of the Christ, showed the movie-making industry the very large potential audience that exists among Evangelical Christians and other pro-family filmgoers. However, he now worries that hasty, profit-hungry Hollywood may start churning out "spiritual" movies and ignore creative storytelling.
The Dove Foundation is committed to bringing more family-friendly fare to movie theaters, Rolfe says. That is why the organization is offering its new study as proof to Hollywood and others that, if the objective is to make money, then quality, positive-value movies geared toward family audiences are "just the ticket."
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
