Christian Study: Sex Flops At Box Office

According to a study compiled by Christianist film critic and would-be censor Ted Baehr, American moviegoers are uninterested in profanity and sex.

The 80-page report, which has been published by the Christian Conservative, pro-family advocacy group Movieguide for 22 years, broke down box office statistics regarding theatrical earnings and used letter codes to determine the content, ranging from world views to nudity to language and drug use. The study noted that movies with faith-driven, redemption-based themes in the top-25 category averaged $87.07 million at the box office, and those with a non-Christian worldview, like “Grown Ups 2,” averaged $21.64 million. Only four R-rated films made the cut, coming in between 15th and 19th in earnings. Movies that had no foul language, like “Frozen,” earned the most (an average of $65.81 million), while films with more than 25 incidences of profanity, like “Wolf of Wall Street,” averaged just $30.43 million and did not make the top 25.

Among the cited “family friendly” recent movies is Fast & Furious 6, a film about murderous car thieves. (Because one of the characters mentions Jesus.) From the study: “Contrary to popular opinion, sex does not really sell. Moviegoers clearly prefer the types of positive, family friendly movies with biblical and morally uplifting content.”

PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: In 2011 Ted Baehr called for the arrest of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over the legalization of same-sex marriage. In 2009 Baehr demanded that the U.S. government block the release of Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno for its “extremely graphic depiction of homosexual sodomy.” That same year Baehr attacked the Academy Awards for bestowing an Oscar on Milk star Sean Penn. His column, published by Porno Pete, was titled Hollywood Denounces God And Applauds Pedophilia.