Over 50% of movies released since 1968 are rated R, according to MPAA

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Some of you dedicated readers out there may be a tad upset movies like VENOM aren’t rated R and are clamoring for more major, R-rated blockbusters to be gifted to the world, wrapped in a bloody bow. But we should take the time to appreciate all the other R-rated films we have for our viewing pleasure, and it turns out, there’s quite a bit of them out there. In fact, according to new data released by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), more than half of the movie’s released since the rating system was established have gotten the “R” stamp.

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According to the new, nigh-50-page report from the MPAA, about 57% of the movies released since 1968 –  the year the MPAA established the modern rating system – have been rated R. That’s a lot of blood, sex, nudity, thematic elements, moments of terror and a certain number of f-bombs dropped for you (and sometimes all involving teens). In those 50 years the organization has rated about 30,000 movies (29,791, to be exact), and among them, 17,202 have been given R, while 4,913 have been given PG-13, 5,578 a PG,1,574 a G and 524 an X/NC-17.

This is the first time in the MPAA’s 50 years of rating that they've released comprehensive data on their ratings. In the report are some neat little facts for the stat-cravers out there. For instance, the report states that over the course of their history that about 1.4 percent of the 30,000 movies (468) have sought a repeal of their ratings, with about 0.6 (165) getting that rating overturned. Since the introduction of the PG-13 rating in 1984 as a way of placing a movie somewhere between PG and R (a move done for INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM), the number of appeals has dropped to one percent or fewer a year.  As well, the MPAA rates about 587 movies a year, with the highest being at 940 in 2003 during “the peak of the DVD boom.”

Before the MPAA was established movies were rated or restricted via the Production Code, or the Hays Code. The MPAA report digs into the history of the codes, citing some of the ridiculous guidelines of “Don’ts and Be Carefuls.” This includes restrictions against “lustful kissing,” “toilet gags, no “sympathy” for bad behavior (no anti-heroes, rather) and even against depicting interracial couples (this one lasted until 1956). After much hullabaloo was caused overs some of the slang used in the movie WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, Jack Valenti, head of the MPAA, established the rating system that has mostly stayed the same since it's 1968 inception. 

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Things have obviously eased up in the last 50 years, even if there are WAY more R-rated movies than anyone may have thought. It’s so much easier to get an R-rating than anything else, and the landscape of such movies is so broad. Just look at two movies this year – EIGHTH GRADE and DEADPOOL 2 – two movies with R ratings for wildly different reasons. That example alone makes for a whole article on its own regarding how the MPAA needs to relax some of its guidelines even more than it has over the years, but for now, just revel in that number of R-rated movies. So many movies, so many opportunities for our youth to defy their parents.