It's not initial release, but I'm getting Showgirls ($20 million lifetime) and then Henry and June ($11.5 million) by a pretty wide margin.

Showgirls was also probably the highest grossing in the theatres of the ones ranked, since it's the least "art house" of them, and it's American. But, damn, I was imagining Secretary as a parallel in more ways than one, but that only grossed about five mil.

Looking at R rated movies, most of them are rated based on violence, not sex. Hangover is...crudity, not sensuality, and that has a massive lifetime of $277M. Hangover II at $254M. Wedding Crashers at $209. Pretty Woman is the first "chick sex" movie at $178M, and that's probably quite a bit of legacy money, and also not a lot of actual sex in the flick, that I can remember, just the scandalous idea that she's a prostitute--can someone set me right on what I'm forgetting? I don't like the movie much, so I'm even more likely to get it wrong. Bouncing down a few more spaces and you get Bridesmaids at #17 lifetime with $169M.

I guess it would feel like a tease to a lot of people for the mommy porn movie to skimp on actual content.

There's some sexy lead-up stuff in Pretty Woman, and one scene where she's clearing about to give him a blow job, but not much that's actually shown. Even the one time they're fucking it's under the covers.

I'm stumped on a couple of these. Nice work on the poster, though.

Are you including X along with NC-17?

Deep Throat made a lot of money. But how much isn't clear because of mob shenanigans. The FBI estimated $100 million.

Midnight Cowboy made $44 million in 1969. Which would be about $275 million in adjusted dollars.

Last Tango in Paris (1973): $36 million.

Clockwork Orange (1972): $26 million

What about Caligula, out of curiosity?

I think Amy was going by the Box Office Mojo numbers here: [link] They're only broken down by MPAA. Wikipedia says that NC-17 was introduced in 1990, and their list of NC-17 grossers includes Matador from 1998, so I dunno what's up with that. But that's the earliest film on their list.

NC-17 is seen to be some sort of kiss of death in a way that I don't think Midnight Cowboy or Clockwork Orange was blest with--but my ages at seeing those movies makes it confusing. Was X so very scandalous as NC-17 is supposed to be now? And is NC-17 living up to its hype? I just watched that movie, and I don't even remember the deets.

I think X is still considered more scandalous than NC17, but I also think it's not really about the morality of any it, but the fact that one of the biggest movie-going audiences is too young to see it. If America suddenly decided that its kids really should be watching porn, Hollywood would jump right on the bandwagon.

Was X so very scandalous as NC-17 is supposed to be now?

Yes. That's why NC-17 was created; X was interpreted as "porn." Similar to the way G is taken to mean "for kids." A lot of theaters wouldn't show X rated movies, and TV & newspapers often wouldn't accept advertising for them. So they thought a new code might not have the same stigma. Incorrectly, it turns out.

Now an X means that it wasn't submitted it to the MPAA for a rating; they don't use that code. If it's not actually porn, I think the SOP is to say "unrated" instead.

Last Tango in Paris was definitely seen as scandalous.

Caligula made $23 million. But it cost $22 million; Midnight Cowboy, Clockwork Orange, and Last Tango were all made for a couple million each.

Just saw Safety Not Guaranteed today and OH MY GOD! so good. I loved it more than I have loved a movie I've seen in the theater in a long time.

200+ posts back, lisah said exactly what my friend and I said last night.

I absolutely adored Safety Not Guaranteed. It was completely satisfying. The script was terrific and every performance shone.

It reminded me of my favorite Dogme 95 and similar films:

• Italian for Beginners
• Mifune
• Wilbur Wants of Kill Himself
• A Slipping Down Life

I would happily see it again, in the theatre.