PG-rated movies experienced a boost in popularity this year.
In 2024, PG-rated movies made up one-third of domestic box office ticket sales, the highest percentage since 1995, according to data from The Numbers.
“PG is the new PG-13,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, told Axios. “It no longer has the stigma of not being hard-edged enough.”
Family-friendly movies, particularly animated movies, thrived at the box office this year.
The highest-grossing movie so far in 2024 is “Inside Out 2,” which raked in more than $652 million at the domestic box office and nearly $1.7 billion worldwide, per Box Office Mojo.
Amid a drowsy summer at the box office, “Inside Out 2″ opened at $155 million at the domestic box office and $295 million globally — setting a new record for the highest global debut for an animated film, per The Hollywood Reporter.
It’s not just “Inside Out 2” — PG-rated movies have dominated across the board this year. Of the top 10 highest-grossing movies of 2024 so far, five have a PG rating. According to Box Office Mojo, these five PG-rated movies are all among the top 10 highest-grossing movies this year:
- “Inside Out 2″ (No. 1)
- “Despicable Me 4″ (No. 3)
- “Wicked” (No. 6)
- “Moana 2″ (No. 8)
- “Kung Fu Panda 4″ (No. 10)
“Moana 2″ smashed early box office predictions and grossed $221 million during its five-day domestic box office opening, which is now “the highest Thanksgiving weekend performance of a film ever,” as reported by CNBC.
“Wicked,” which is rated PG, opened last week at $114 million, the highest-performing debut for a Broadway adaptation ever, as previously reported by the Deseret News.
And “Despicable Me 4″ brought in over $969 globally, pushing the “Despicable” franchise over $5.5 billion in total earnings and making the “Despicable” franchise the highest-earning animated franchise of all time.
R-rated movies earn less at the box office
The majority of movies that get made have an R-rating, but trends show R-rated movies are gradually earning less box office revenue.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” is the highest-grossing R-rated movie so far this year. It’s earned $636 million at the box office so far this year, but accounts for most of the momentum R-rated movies experienced in 2024.
It is the only R-rated movie that earned more than $200 million this year.
Between 1968 and 2018, the MPAA rated 29,791 films — 57% of those movies were rated R, per Business Insider.
In 2022, the percentage of box office earnings brought in by R-rated movies dipped to its lowest rate in 25 years, per Axios. That same year, nearly two-thirds of box office revenue came from PG-13 movies.
“If the greatest chance of box office success is having a PG-13 rating, or not having an R rating, then that’s where the industry really had to go if that was the primary goal,” said Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian, per Axios.