Does sex in movies sell?

The age old adage “Sex Sells” stills seems to hold very much true – at least if you trust the hundreds of brands that continue to promote themselves with skin and beauty. However, does sex in movies sell? This is the interesting question at the heart of a recent five year study at the box office reported on in the article “Bare Breasts Don’t Beget Boffo Box Office” by Tom Jacobs of Miller-McCune magazine.

Remember the big deal made about the first time Halle Berry exposed her breasts in the movie swordfish? Think of all the films teenage males go to simply in the hopes of seeing all or partially nude women. Obviously, there is a huge industry just for movies about sex. But, the real question is, does sex in movies translate into box office dollars?

According to the Miller-McCune article, “”Analyses of 914 films released between 2001 and 2005 indicated that sex and nudity do not, on the average, boost box office performance, earn critical acclaim or win major awards,” reports a new study titled ‘Sex Doesn’t Sell — Nor Impress’. According to the researchers, sex and nudity were negatively correlated with a film’s net profits from domestic distribution and had no positive impact on a picture’s popularity or prestige according to a wide variety of measures.”

“The most the market can apparently handle is PG-13 sexuality, and even there, there may be a loss relative to PG or even G,” says report co-author Dean Keith Simonton of the University of California.

On average, the five years of box-office data outlined in the article finds nudity and sexuality do not, on average, increase a film’s profitability or prestige.  Titanic, starring Kate Winslett, was one rare example of a huge box office film with nudity that apparently benefit from its sexuality.

To learn more about this report about sex in movies and the box office effect, read the full Miller-McCune article.

Movie news written by Neil of Movie Room Reviews with source cited

Tags: Miller-McCune box office article, movies with sex, sex in movies