top-grossing films
After less than a week, Bob Marley: One Love is already one of the top-grossing biopics of a musician in domestic box-office history. The film, which stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as reggae legend Bob Marley, has grossed $52 million in the U.S. and Canada. Here are the 25 top-grossing biopics of musicians in terms of domestic […]
The R-rated movie has been a moviegoing constant since 1968, when the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) created the modern rating system.
R of course stands for “Restricted,” which initially meant “Persons under 16 not admitted, unless accompanied by parent or adult guardian.” That age threshold was upped to 17 in 1970.
We’ve had movies rated R (and G, for general audiences) in every iteration of the rating system. The two other ratings during the first two years of the system (1968-70) were M (“Suggested for mature audiences – parental discretion advised”) and X (“Persons under 16 not admitted”).
The three other ratings under the current system are PG (Parental Guidance Suggested), PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned) and NC-17 (adults only).
The modern ratings system was created in 1968 to replace the Motion Picture Production Code, also known as the “Hays Code” – which had been in place since 1930. Such ground-breaking films as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Blow-Up (both 1966) made the old code seem archaic. Jack Valenti, who had become president of the MPAA in May 1966, took the lead in creating a new system. On Nov. 1, 1968, the voluntary MPAA film rating system took effect. (The MPAA became the MPA in 2019 when they dropped the word America from their name.)
Let’s take a look at the 10 highest-grossing R-rated films of all time, according to boxofficemojo.com. All of the films in the top 10 are from this century, which makes sense, owing to higher ticket prices. To give you an idea of the popular R-rated films from the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, we looked deeper on the boxofficemojo.com list. Here are the top three R-rated films, in descending order, from each of those decades.
1970s: The Exorcist (1973), National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978), The Godfather (1972)
1980s: Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Rain Man (1988), Fatal Attraction (1987)
1990s: Saving Private Ryan (1998), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Pretty Woman (1990)
A current hit, Oppenheimer, has already made this list. It also surpassed Bad Boys for Life to become the top-grossing R-rated film of the 2020s. (No. 3 for the decade: John Wick: Chapter 4.)
Todd Phillips directed three of 10 highest-grossing R-rated films of all-time – the first two films in The Hangover trilogy and Joker. Bradley Cooper starred in three of the 10 highest-grossing R-rated films of all time – the first two Hangover films and American Sniper. (Movie buffs should check out our lists of the top 10 box-office hits of 2023 and the 30 highest-grossing films directed or co-directed by women. Spoiler alert: Barbie heads both lists.)
Here are the 10 highest-grossing R-rated films of all time, according to boxofficemojo.com.
The Hangover Part II
Most Billboard readers have at least a rough idea of the top albums and songs of each year but may be less familiar with the top box-office hits from each year. Fortunately, boxofficemojo.com has that information for each year dating back to 1977.
So what do we learn scrolling through the list of top-grossing films for each year since Jimmy Carter became president and Elvis Presley died? One thing that comes across loud and clear is the degree to which sequels and franchises have come to dominate the marketplace. Just four of the year-end box-office champs were films that were not part of franchises (or did not spark a franchise or a reboot of some kind). Those four films that stand alone are E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Ghost and Titanic.
Star Wars is the top franchise on this recap, with six installments that have been the year’s top-grossing film. Batman is runner-up, with four installments that finished first for the year. Spider-Man is third, with three installments that yielded the year’s top box-office hit.
James Cameron and George Lucas are tied as the only directors who each directed three films that took the year-end crown. Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, Tony Scott, Steven Spielberg, Andrew Stanton and Robert Zemeckis are tied for second place, each having directed two year-end champs.
John Williams is far and away the top film scorer. The legendary composer scored 10 films that took the year-end box-office crown. Danny Elfman and Alan Silvestri have each scored films that finished first four times. (Hans Zimmer will join them if Top Gun: Maverick, on which he teamed with Harold Faltermeyer and Lady Gaga to provide the music, finishes first for the year.)
Lucas and Williams are the only director/composer team to collaborate on three year-end box-office champs. Six other such teams have collaborated on two year-end champs: Spielberg and Williams; Zemeckis and Silvestri; Scott and Faltermeyer; Cameron and James Horner; Burton and Elfman; and Stanton and Thomas Newman.
Top Gun: Maverick took the box-office crown for 2022, with a domestic (U.S. and Canada) gross of more than $718 million. The rest of the top five consisted of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Avatar: The Way of Water and Jurassic World: Dominion.
Let’s scroll back through the films that had the most success at the domestic box office (that’s the U.S. and Canada) in each calendar year since 1977, when Annie debuted on Broadway, Laverne & Shirley was the top TV show and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours dominated the Billboard 200.
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