'Conservative' films reap box-office rewards, claims US group

Films that embody "conservative" values such as capitalism and Christian belief are more likely to prove profitable than those which take a more "liberal" standpoint, according to a US group called Movieguide, which promotes the former. Movies from the past year that meet Movieguide's threshold for adhering to "traditional" values include Oscars frontrunners such as Hugo and The Artist , as well as less celebrated fare such as comic book film Thor and Tom Cruise comeback vehicle Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol . The organisation will honour the year's top conservative films at a special awards show on Friday to mark 20 years of highlighting the merits of movies with morals. It has produced a special 76-page report on the good, the bad and the ugly of the film universe's past 12 months, which is on sale for $1,000 a copy and includes tickets to the Annual Faith & Values Awards Gala at the Universal Hilton Hotel in LA. Other films which pass muster include Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close , Battle: Los Angeles , Moneyball , We Bought a Zoo and Captain America: The First Avenger – but the directors of films such as Super 8 , Red State, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy , We Need to Talk About Kevin , Bad Teacher and Happy Feet Two should not be expecting a ticket. Quite what the latter, an animated sequel to 2006's tale of perky dancing penguins, did to upset conservatives is unclear, but we're assuming it has something to do with the movie's concern for environmental issues. Movieline calculated that the 91 films that met its criteria in 2011 earned an average of $59m apiece, while the 105 that apparently promoted a "liberal/leftist" agenda made a mere $11m each. Two of the highest-grossing films that received the thumbs down were stag-do comedy sequel The Hangover Part II and vampire romance Breaking Dawn Part 1, with $581m and $702m respectively. "Most moviegoers want good to conquer evil, truth to triumph over falsehood, justice to prevail over injustice and true beauty to overcome ugliness," Movieguide editor Ted Baehr wrote in the report. As well as rating films in terms of their attitude towards biblical values and capitalism, Movieline uses another two dozen or so criteria, including violence, sex, political correctness, revisionist history, environmentalism, feminism and homosexuality, to decide its nominees for the year's best films. Nominees for best movie for mature audiences The Artist Captain America: The First Avenger Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Sarah's Key Seven Days in Utopia Thor The Tree of Life The Way Nominees for best movie for family audiences The Adventures of Tintin Cars 2 Courageous Hugo Justin Bieber: Never Say Never Mars Needs Moms Mr Popper's Penguins The Muppets Puss in Boots Soul Surfer