This shouldn’t be ne…

This shouldn’t be news, but it is.

A new study set to be released Tuesday shows that family-friendly movies are more profitable than R-rated films, throwing more fuel onto the fire of the long-running debate over sex and violence in entertainment — and whether it sells.

The survey was commissioned by the Dove Foundation, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based group that advocates wholesome family entertainment. According to its Web site, its advisory board includes radio talk show host Laura Schlessinger and “Touched By an Angel” executive producer Martha Williamson.

In a follow-up to a 10-year study commissioned by the foundation in 1999 — which found that between 1988-97 the average G-rated film made eight times the profit of an R-rated picture — an extension of that study found that trend continuing and expanding.

The new, expanded study examines the revenue and production costs for 3,000 Motion Picture Assn. of America-rated theatrical films released between Jan. 1, 1989, and Dec. 31, 2003, using the 200 most widely distributed films each year based on the number of theaters.

“While the movie industry produced nearly 12 times more R-rated films than G-rated films from 1989-2003, the average G-rated film produced 11 times greater profit than its R-rated counterpart,” said Dick Rolfe, the group’s founder and chairman.

I noted this in 2003, and it’s been a continuing trend for a long time. If Hollywood was really interested in giving the people what they want, we’d have a lot more G-rated films. But as much as they say they’re following public trends, they’re in fact trying to set them.

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