Well, at least for PG rated films. There was a study done recently and the results were presented at the ShoWest conference going on in Las Vegas. According to the study, PG movies with LESS swearing in the do significantly better business than the ones that have more swearing in them.
Yahoo news gives us this:
“The reality is that profanity, within PG, is the big demarcation between box office winner and box office loser,” research and marketing director Dan O’Toole said at ShoWest, a conference where studios unveil upcoming movie lineups. “Parents are choosing PG films for their kids that have very, very low levels of profanity. We’re talking one-third the level of the average PG film,” he said.
I’m not really sure what to think of that. Is there really a big difference between how much swearing is in 1 PG rated movie to another PG rated movie? Wouldn’t they be pretty similar? I mean, I just assume if a movie is a straight PG then there probably isn’t much swearing in it to begin with. I know they can’t drop the “F” bomb… but how many times can y ou say “shit” in a PG movie and still get away with it?