A COLUMN BY Dick Rolfe Chairman, THE DOVE FOUNDATION
We Can't Have it Both Ways
Several years ago, a much publicized study reported that PG movies were three times more likely to reach $100 million at the box office than R-rated fare. If that statistic is still accurate, then perception has very little to do with reality.
A July 30 story in Investors' Business Daily stated that, despite the vocal demands made by overwhelming majorities for more family-friendly movies, wholesome films have been playing to very small audiences. According to the article, A Simple Wish, Cats Don't Dance, Buddy and other family-oriented films "tanked" at the box office. On the other side of the equation, the writer pointed to the success of a relatively violent action pic like Men in Black. The point of the story was, "What we (the public) want and what we say we want differs quite often."
It is true that people are often guilty of saying one thing and doing another. Family films haven't done very well over the past three years, with a handful of rare exceptions like Babe and Fly Away Home. Children's classics like The Little Princess, Indian in The Cupboard and The Secret Garden did poorly in theaters and only moderately well on home video. Disney animated features, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Hercules both ranked high on the financial Richter scale. But when you deduct the gargantuan advertising budgets Disney committed to hype these movies, the net profits aren't so impressive. Surprisingly, Disney's George of the Jungle did better than expected. It's first week's revenue was $16.3 million, a close second behind Men in Black.
So far this year, Hollywood's batting average has been poor for all categories of movies, even the shoot-em-up or bed-em-down flicks like Operation Condor, Speed II, Grosse Point Blank and Face/Off. Only three Dove Approved movies released so far this year stand out as memorable. They were the Star Wars Trilogy, re-releases from the late 1970's and early 80's.
When the movie studios experience a period of mediocre movie releases like they have so far this year, they begin searching frantically for the magic formula to save their bottom lines. As one executive put it, "In Show Business profits are paramount, that's why we don't call it 'Show Art.'"
NOW is the time for decent people to weigh in with their votes at the box office and the video counters. If you are one who is crying for wholesome films while at the same time carrying a used ticket stub in your pocket to People vs. Larry Flint, Private Parts or Striptease, then you are more a part of the problem than you may realize.
Opinion polls do very little to influence filmmakers. Mau Tse Tung once said, "The people vote with their feet."
Let's all watch our feet more closely and walk our righteous talk.
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Dick Rolfe is Chairman of The Dove Foundation a nonprofit organization whose mission is to encourage and promote the creation, production and distribution of wholesome family entertainment. For more information about wholesome films and videos, write: 535 E. Fulton, Suite 1A, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, or call (616)454-5024.
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