ClearPlay, Movies, and the Academy Awards

Originally published Feb 21, 2009.

Since the first ClearPlay DVD player became available over five years ago I have enjoyed watching movies with my family. ClearPlay is a special DVD player that enables your family to enjoy all of the great Hollywood movies you’ve always wanted to watch — without all of the junk you don’t want.

By using custom ClearPlay filters the ClearPlay DVD player seamlessly skips and mutes content based on 12 categories that you can set. ClearPlay works with thousands of movies and new filters are generally made available the same day as new releases.

Brian Fuller of ClearPlay recently made these observations about the Academy Awards:

• Of the five movies nominated for best picture, four are rated R and one is rated PG-13.
• The average gross box office of the five movies was 50 million, skewed high by the sole PG-13 movie, Benjamin Button, which grossed nearly 123 million.
• Rated R movies accounted for 50%(!) of the rated movies released last year, but only accounted for 22% of the total box office revenue.
• Only 14% of the rated movies released in 2008 were G or PG, but they accounted for 23% of the total box office.
• PG-13 movies accounted for a whopping 55% of the total box office gross and were 36% of the movies released.

Brian further observes:

But despite the overwhelming success of non-rated R movies, Hollywood still makes as many rated-R movies as it does all three of the other ratings combined!

He writes that from a purely business perspective studios should shift resources to make more family friendly fare. Then he asks, “So why don’t they?”

One factor is a values gap: those within the industry simply don’t share the same values, perspectives, and goals as the movie going public. The statistics demonstrate that we want more quality, clean entertainment, while some directors and studios may want to generate buzz by pushing boundaries, seeking for prestige among their peers, or releasing films that reflect their own morals and interests.

I have used ClearPlay since the beginning when Hollywood was trying hard to shut ClearPlay down. When Congress passed the Family Movie Act of 2005, ClearPlay was dropped from Studio lawsuits. If you haven’t tried ClearPlay, check out what they have to offer and regain control of what you see (and don’t want to see) in a movie.