What happened to G-rated movies?
Fox News Digital spoke with Common Sense Media's Betsy Bozdech about the stunning decline in G-rated films in recent years.
"The Wizard of Oz," "Mary Poppins" and "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" are among timeless classics that have been seen and enjoyed by families across many generations. What do these films have in common? They're all rated G.
But despite their popularity in American culture, G-rated films are now virtually extinct.
According to FilmRatings.com, there are zero G-rated feature-length theatrically-released films from any major studio in 2023. Only two major studio G-rated features were released last year (Disney's nature documentary "Bear Witness" and Apple's animated film "Luck," both for streaming). In 2019, the last full calendar year before COVID rocked the world, there were only three.
The database does cast a wide net as it includes short films, home releases and obscure films from smaller distributors. Under those metrics, there were just six G-rated films released in 2023. Go back 20 years to 2003, there were 36 G-rated films. Go back 50 years to 1973, a whopping 121.
"I am in the midst right now of putting together my best movies of the year list, and I cannot find a single one that we have rated for under five or six years old this year," Betsy Bozdech told Fox News Digital.
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Every animated feature released in 2023 including "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," "Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie" and "Elemental" is rated PG. (Screenshots/Universal Pictures/Paramount Pictures/Disney-Pixar)
Bozdech is the editorial director of Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that rates content for children on movies, TV shows, books, games and apps based on child development criteria to determine its age appropriateness.
"We seem to say, 'Oh, it's fine. They have all the preschool shows on the streaming services or on PBS and they'll be fine.' And I mean, yes, there's no shortage of great content for little kids on those platforms, but it would be really nice to have more in theaters that families could go to," Bozdech said.
A film's rating is determined by The Motion Picture Association of America's Classification and Ratings Administration (CARA). The system, according to its website, ranges from G for "General Audiences," PG for "Parental Guidance Suggested," PG-13 for "Parents Strongly Cautioned," R for "Restricted" to NC-17 for "No one 17 and under admitted."
While rated-R films require an adult present and NC-17 films do not admit children, the other three ratings offer far more leniency. G-rated films are frequently targeted to young children and families but CARA determines "all ages [are] permitted" to see those movies. PG films warn parents that "some material" may not be suitable for young children and PG-13 films "may be inappropriate for pre-teenagers."
G-rated films weren't always seen as being "too kiddie" like they do today. Some of the most revered and iconic films ever made like "Gone with the Wind," "2001: A Space Odyssey," "The Ten Commandments," "Planet of the Apes" and "Ben-Hur" all have that rating (some were given it retroactively as the rating system was developed after the film's release).
But even movies released today that target the youngest of children are no longer rated G and perhaps the best case study to examine the demise of the rated-G film is last month's release of "Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie."
The new "Paw Patrol" movie was given a PG rating even though its 2021 predecessor was rated G. (Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
"Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie" is based on the long-running hit Nickelodeon children's program "Paw Patrol" about a young boy and his crew of search and rescue dogs. Notably, the show has a TV-Y rating.
According to the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board, not only is TV-Y approved for "all children," television shows with such a rating are "specifically designed for a very young audience, including children from ages 2–6."
Its first theatrical release, 2021's "Paw Patrol: The Movie," was given a G rating. But its 2023 sequel was given a PG rating for "mild action" and "peril."
And "The Mighty Movie" is in mighty company. Every animated film released this year from "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," Pixar's "Elemental," "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" as well as the upcoming "Trolls Band Together" and Disney's "Wish" all have a PG rating.
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Bozdech acknowledged the "perceived stigma" against G-rated films, saying studios are likely making a "business decision" to make more PG content instead of G thinking it's more profitable, but he pointed to the financial success of the first "Paw Patrol" movie and 2015's "The Peanuts Movie" as proof that G-rated films don't equate to "box office poison."
"I think it's possible that studios think that parents are going to not want to sit through a G-rated movie because they'll be bored or it will be too young for them," Bozdech said. "But I think if you can do a movie well- I mean, look, the original "Toy Story" was rated G… Pixar has had many successful G rated movies. And those movies entertain audiences of all ages because they have excellent scripts and well-developed stories. And if you put in the effort, you can make a quality piece of media no matter what the rating is."
The vast majority of Disney's classic films from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin," "The Lion King" to "Toy Story" were all rated G but the studio's ten most recent animated features have all been rated PG. "Elemental," for example, was given that rating for "some peril," "brief language" and "thematic elements."
Disney's last G-rated animated film was 2019's "Toy Story 4."
"Toy Story" was the last major franchise to have each installment rated G. (Screenshot/Disney-Pixar)
Paul Batura, vice president of communications of the faith-based group Focus on the Family, called out the "increasing disregard and disinterest in nurturing the hearts and minds of children."
"One of the tragedies of our time is that when it comes to shielding children from indecency, crassness, and crudeness, far too many people don’t even care if kids are exposed to what they clearly know qualifies as obscene. Instead, there’s a growing indifference or even a disdain for censoring oneself for the sake of someone else," Batura wrote in a Fox News opinion piece last month.
"Despite what too many industry executives seem to think and believe today, box office history demonstrates it’s possible to produce films that feed and develop healthy young minds – and also generate hearty corporate bottom lines," he later added.
"I do think families should be advocating and asking and standing up for more media in theaters that is appropriate for little kids," Bozdech told Fox News Digital. "I do think that we've seen a shift in the past few years of a lot more younger-kid content coming out on streaming services versus in theaters… And I think that's great… but I think that we don't want that to mean that there should never be a family-appropriate experience in a theater because there's something about that experience of going to the theater and sitting there in the dark with an audience and having your popcorn and reacting in real time. That's, I think, really an important experience for kids to have if they can."
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