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Moviegoers Prefer More Conservative, Pro-American, Patriotic Movies, New Movieguide® Study Finds

Moviegoers here and overseas still prefer conservative movies with strong Pro-American, traditional, patriotic, capitalistic, anti-communist content or values and biblical morality to a great extent, a new study by Movieguide® finds.

 

“This annual cultural trend continues to show most people in this world respond to conservative, traditional values, not radical, utopian, unworkable, and immoral anti-conservative ideologies,” said Dr. Ted Baehr, Founder and Publisher of Movieguide®:  The Family Guide to Movies and Entertainment, a Christian conservative advocacy group.

 

Dr. Baehr noted that the “vast majority” of the world’s population is religious, with about 2.3 billion people saying they are Christian, about 1.6 billion saying they are Muslim, 875 million saying they are Hindu, and 385 million saying they are Buddhist.

 

Movieguide® also found that, despite the tremendous success of AVATAR (a movie with very strong politically correct content), leftist movies with strong Anti-American, anti-capitalist, communist, socialist, politically correct, feminist, atheist content or values and anti-biblical morality do significantly worse than movies with strong conservative content and values.

 

“This is not only true in the United States and Canada; it’s also true overseas,” Dr. Baehr added.

 

Thus, for example, in the U.S. and Canada, movies released in 2009 with very strong biblical morality, such as THE BLIND SIDE or UP, averaged more than $69.6 million in 2009 and 2010 as of Feb. 17, 2010, but movies with an anti-religious, atheist, or secular humanist view, such as LAND OF THE LOST and CREATION, averaged less than $10.4 million in 2009 and 2010.

 

Also, movies released in 2009 with strong or very strong Pro-American and/or patriotic content or values, such as G.I. JOE and CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS, averaged nearly $109.5 million in 2009 and 2010, while movies with strong or very strong Anti-American and/or anti-patriotic content or values, such as WATCHMEN and BRÜNO, averaged only $40.6 million.

 

Taken together, Movieguide® found that movies with strong or very strong conservative, monotheistic moral content and values averaged nearly $89.72 million per movie in 2009 and 2010 as of Feb. 17, 2010, but movies with strong or very strong liberal, leftist, or atheist content and values averaged only $36.94 million, even with AVATAR’s total box office of more than $668 million in the U.S. and Canada!

 

Overseas, Movieguide® found that 80% of the Top 10 Movies at the Box Office had strong or very strong Pro-American, biblical, moral, patriotic, capitalist, or conservative content or values.

 

Only two, or 20%, had any strong or very strong negative, non-conservative, anti-religious content or values, and one of those movies, ANGELS AND DEMONS, had some strong positive Christian content that lessened its negative worldview.

 

Below is the breakdown of the particular conservative and non-conservative categories analyzed by Movieguide®, with the Average Box Office per movie in the U.S. and Canada.

 

Conservative Movies versus Leftist Movies, 2009-2010 in U.S. and Canada

 

Box Office Sources:  The Numbers and IMDB as of 01/04/10 Plus BoxOfficeMojo as of 02/17/10.

 

Content

Count

Avg. B.O.

Strong Pro-Capitalist Content

7

$140,161,660

Strong Patriotic/Pro-American Movies

12

$109,477,621

Anti-Communist Content

9

$93,328,825

Very Strong Biblical Morality**

31

$69,631,729

Strong Anti-Capitalist Content

6

$132,603,193

Strong Anti-Patriotic/Anti-American Movies

7

$40,635,856

Pro-Communist Content

9

$77,495,465

Strong Politically Correct Content

23

$43,152,580

Pro-Socialist Content

9

$14,305,988

Very Strong Pro-Atheism

21

$10,398,811

Very Strong Pro-Homosexual Content

12

$8,064,358

Very Strong Feminist Content

0

$0

All Conservative/Moral Categories

59

$89,718,747

All Liberal/Leftist Categories

87

$36,939,707

 

Content

Count

B.O. Sum

Avg. B.O.

All Conservative/Moral Categories

59

$5,293,406,098

$89.72 million

All Liberal/Leftist/Immoral Categories

87

$3,213,754,493

$36.94 million

 

** Movieguide® believes that the basic moral principles in both the New Testament and the Hebrew Scriptures are the same, though individual Bible-believing, monotheistic Jews and Christians, or individual churches, synagogues, and denominations, may differ greatly (often depending on external non-biblical influences) on the issue of what moral values the Bible teaches, not only in the past, but also in the present time and in the future. The term Biblical Morality (or Traditional Biblical Values) refers to MOVIEGUIDE®’s traditional, grammatical, literary, and historical understanding of what the Bible teaches, morally speaking.

 

“In looking at these box office averages,” Dr. Baehr said, “it is clear that AVATAR’s tremendous box office success in 2009 and 2010 provides a note of hope for those with an anti-conservative, left-oriented political worldview or philosophy.

 

“It should be noted, however,” he added, “that most movies from an explicitly anti-conservative or leftist perspective, such as Michael Moore’s CAPITALISM:  A LOVE STORY, BRÜNO, edgy liberal activist Will Farrell’s humanist-oriented LAND OF THE LOST, the humanist pro-evolution movie CREATION, and Woody Allen’s mindless, politically correct movie WHATEVER WORKS, all bombed at the box office!”

 

Dr. Baehr said Movieguide®‘s findings for these movies released in 2009 echo Movieguide®‘s findings in its annual political studies of the previous seven years.

 

For example, during 2008, movies with strong or very strong conservative content and values averaged $65.4 million per movie in the U.S. and Canada, but movies with strong or very strong liberal or leftist content and values averaged only $11.4 million!

 

Thus, for the last two years and longer, American and Canadian moviegoers have preferred strong conservative movies three to six times more than strong liberal or leftist movies.

 

Each year Movieguide® does a comprehensive analysis of the content of the major movies produced by the entertainment industry (usually about 275 or more) and their box office and home video success or failure.

 

“Year in and year out,” Dr. Baehr said, “Movieguide®‘s Annual Report to the Entertainment Industry shows that movies with strong Christian, family-friendly, conservative worldviews, content, and values and no extreme sex, nudity, substance abuse, immorality, and violence make the most money – by significant margins!”

 

Dr. Baehr will present highlights of the 2010 Annual Report Tuesday evening at the 18th Annual Faith & Values Awards Gala and Report to the Entertainment Industry, to be held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.

 

The new political study for 2009 and 2010 as of Feb. 17, 2010 used a database of 277 major movies released in 2009 by the entertainment industry.

 

For more details concerning Movieguide®‘s 2010 political study and its political studies for 2002-2008, please contact Dr. Ted Baehr or Dr. Tom Snyder at (805) 383-2000, ext. 303.

 

For highlights of Movieguide®‘s 2010 Annual Report to the Entertainment Industry, including results of its comprehensive study of what Hollywood movies earned in 2009 through Jan. 3, 2010, please see the Annual Edition of Movieguide®, or call Ted or Tom at the above phone number.

 

You may also email Tom at tom@movieguide.org.

 

Copies of the full 2010 Annual Report may be purchased from Movieguide®. Please contact Robert Baehr at (805) 383-2000 for more information.

 

Dr. Baehr is chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission® (CFTVC) ministry and its family guide to movies, Movieguide® (www.movieguide.org). CFTVC and Movieguide® are an international non-profit ministry dedicated to “redeeming the values of the entertainment industry by influencing industry executives and by informing and equipping the public about the influence of the entertainment media.”

 

Both CFTVC and Movieguide® are entering their 25th year of service. Their parent organization, Good News Communications, Inc., has been operating since 1978.

 

For more information, visit www.movieguide.org or call 1-888-248-6689.

 

 

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.