Sex and Nudity Don't Draw You to the Movies?
Filed under: Exhibition
Would you have liked Terminator Salvation more if Moon Bloodgood's topless bit hadn't been cut out? Would you have been more likely to see the movie in theaters if you knew there was a flash of boob? Probably not, according to a recent psychological study, which looked at 914 movies released between 2001 and 2005 to determine if sex indeed sells at the cinema. The results of the study say no: "sex and nudity do not, on the average, boost box office performance, earn critical acclaim or win major awards." Well, the research did show that the Golden Globes are more favorable to movies with sex scenes than the Oscars, which might make sense given that many foreign moviegoers (particularly those in Europe) are more accepting of nudity than American viewers, though it's unlikely the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is thinking about sex while determining its nominees.
In contrast, the study actually showed that sex sells even less outside the U.S., which may be because a number of international markets, such as those in Asia and the Middle East, are more censoring of such content.
In general I have a problem with this study's claims. The obvious reason that movies featuring sex and nudity don't profit as much theatrically as more chaste films is that both the rating and the content excludes a good percentage of moviegoers. Nothing has changed since twenty years ago, when sex comedies and sexy thrillers made bank, except the strictness of theaters regarding R-rated movies.
On top of that, the popularity of home video over theatrical viewing is probably also a factor. People are surely more apt to rent a movie they're drawn to primarily for the sex and nudity than to go watch that film in public. Did these researchers not take into consideration that during the years studied that the trend of releasing unrated versions of films on DVD became a huge trend? Or think about where home video figures into a film's profitability?
Sure, sex and nudity may not be a main incentive for people to see a movie, and it might not help the theatrical release, but it certainly remains a positive selling point to some people. If this study were actually true for movie watching in general, I doubt MrSkin.com would exist, and I don't think a film like Powder Blue would have garnered so much attention and subsequently sold or rented as well as it did. Somewhat relative, the TV series Gossip Girl didn't see a 20% increase in viewers for its threesome episode because of anything other than the well-publicized sex scene.
Never mind that Americans have, as a whole, seemingly become more puritanical in some regards over the past decade. And forget the fact that this week's biggest movie focuses on the idea of NOT having sex. I still disagree completely with the implications of this study.
What do you think of the study's findings? Do you ever see a movie because it has sex and nudity? Will you be renting Terminator Salvation when it hits video in two weeks solely to see Bloodgood's breasts (actually, you can just watch it here)?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-20-2009 @ 1:13PM
Kenji Meadu said...
Study sounds about right. In my entire life, I've only known one person to see a film because it had nudity. That was 'Swordfish' and because of Halle Berry.
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11-20-2009 @ 1:52PM
ronny v said...
I would have liked "Terminator Salvation" more if there was some dialogue. The longer James Cameron goes on, the more he relies on special effects (sometimes to the point of confusion) and the less he spends for and thinks about the script. Honestly, you don't have to spend one minute thinking about his films because there is nothing given the audience to think about. I believe he hires film students from UC Davis or something to write these pieces of crap he comes up with these days.
And on this new film of his "Avatar," ... OK, fine James, we all get it, all corporations are evil and exploitive (except for his little empire, of course) and all native beings to an area have always lived in peace and harmony, never rooting out other tribes to get what they had and they are much smarter and benevolent than the rest of us...we get it.
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11-20-2009 @ 1:57PM
Reuben said...
To be fair, James Cameron had very little to do with Salvation. He neither produced it or directed it.
1-05-2010 @ 6:04PM
Rob said...
James Cameron had nothing to do with Terminator Salvation. Learn a bit before you criticize him.
11-20-2009 @ 3:15PM
rbk said...
"Do you ever see a movie because it has sex and nudity? " - if it's a porn. But not if it's some weakly lit shot of a pair of boobs in some mainstream movie - again, that's what porn is for.
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11-20-2009 @ 3:49PM
EatingPie said...
Thing is, there's *gratuitous* and *non-gratuitous* nudity.
The Terminator example? Of course I wouldn't go for the nudity. And I would probably avoid it specifically because of the nudity... I would conclude that the director probably felt he *needed* the nudity to draw people in, and that the story wasn't good enough to do so.
Eyes Wide Shut. I was upset they cut it in America. It was not just necessary to the story, but the orgy scene was absolutely shocking. The graphic nudity added an emotional impact, quite the *opposite* impact that most movies go for when including nude scenes!
The Reader is another recent example. I think the graphic sex scenes added to the emotional impact of the film, though to a far lesser degree than Eyes Wide Shut. But certainly that was an important aspect to the story.
Oh, I left out *stupid* nudity. That would be Titanic, and Kate Winslet taking off her top to illustrate her liberation. Yeah, instead of telling her fiance to go jump in the ocean, she shows her breasts (making all the men in the audience immediately think "oh she's liberated now!"). Good one, Cameron. Way to build a strong female role model.
-Pie
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11-20-2009 @ 5:09PM
directorG said...
Interesting that Kate Winslet was the star of both "Titanic" and "The Reader," which equate to both sides of the gratuitous / non-gratuitous.
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11-20-2009 @ 9:03PM
MYMHM said...
What's the point of going to a movie just for nudity? I can get that at home for free...
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11-21-2009 @ 2:01AM
dave said...
some movies where theres excess nudity, just useless and pointless, if i want nudity then i'll get a porno, it also depends on the movie and what its about.
like you say in terminator, if there was nudity it would be completely pointless
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11-21-2009 @ 9:47AM
Condor said...
I love movies that show boobs, usually gives a movie the push it needs to become great.
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11-22-2009 @ 12:15AM
Anemone Cerridwen said...
If I can comment without spoiling anyone's fun?
We did control for MPAA rating. (It's in the paper.) We didn't include DVD sales/rentals because we didn't have the data for it - we used only data available for free on IMDb and elsewhere (no research budget whatsoever). But from what I've seen, I suspect that DVD sales/rentals tend to correlate positively with box office. It would be good, though, if someone with money to pay for the DVD data were to follow up on this. Any bored grad students out there?
For the curious, the raw data is available on my website. Just google my name to find it.
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11-23-2009 @ 8:25AM
Mangorilla said...
The concept of "sex sells" isn't limited to actual nudity and sex though; it's more about innuendo and suggestion and sexiness. Not to pick on her, but ask Megan Fox if she thinks sex sells. It probably was the robot battles more than the daisy dukes motorcycle and car fixing scenes and bouncy bouncy tanktop running scenes that drove people to see the Transformers movies, but people sure knew Megan's name after that, and it wasn't for her acting chops. The Jennifer's Body trailers were mostly focused on Megan in school girl uniforms, making out with her female costar. And let's be real; Cameron Diaz's undies dance was just about the only reason that Charlie's Angels movie made any bank. Or take Baywatch for example. One of the most successful and longest running tv series ever. Due to Hasslehoff's acting? Supurb writing? Dramatic moments that make the audience question their own paths in life? Or was it the jiggling and slow motion beach running? Not a drop of actual nudity, but total sexuality on screen. Maybe movies that show blatant sexuality at their core are showing lower numbers, but I think that's more to do with audiences getting tired of the coming of age sex romp comedy concept. Ever since Porky's put butts in seats, it has been beaten to death. But as you've said, I think dvd sales/rentals are where these movies make their money. Browse the racks of any Blockbuster and you'll find a library of National Lampoon movies that you've never heard of before, all featuring sex pun titles and bikini clad torsos on the cover. And how many friggin American Pie offshots have they made now? But it is difficult to judge, because kids that are excited about the possibility of seeing on screen boobies are likely too young to see an R movie, and are downloading them on their computers anyway. The rest of us are either tired of the sex romp comedy concept, have moved on to adult entertainment, or have stepped away from the screens and started actually, you know, talking to real live girls.
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12-01-2009 @ 8:40PM
Allison said...
Powder Blue is hardly a "success." It was generally panned by critics and went straight to DVD. It didn't really help Jessica Biel's career. Probably the A-Team movie (where she won't probably be naked) will help her career more.
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12-12-2009 @ 8:34AM
dave said...
Sex sells, but less than female nudity in various forms of exposure. Kids definitely watch movies that shows sex and nudity. Along with DVDs, there exist tons of downloaded porn movies on PCs and storage disks, including pendrives . A study on this will be very interesting.
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