The MPAA has rated an average of 587 movies a year, with a high of 940 films rated in 2003 (near the peak of the DVD boom.)
(Note: Excluding 2018, since full numbers are not yet available for the year.)
17,202 Rated R
4,913 Rated PG-13
5,578 Rated M/GP/PG
1,574 Rated G
524 Rated X/NC-17
In 2017, 75 percent of films rated were submitted by independents, compared to just 47 percent in 1969, the first full year of the rating system’s existence. Early on, more than half of films submitted for ratings were MPAA member studio productions. That has shifted over time, in part because as parents increasingly relied on the ratings, more independent distributors began submitting their films for rating, but also because there are now more independent film releases today compared to MPAA member releases.
APPEALS & OVERTURNED RATINGS
Since 1968, of the nearly 30,000 films rated, 1.4 percent have been appealed (428), and 0.6 percent have had their rating overturned (165). Since the introduction of the PG-13 rating, most years have seen one percent or fewer ratings appealed.
Historically, an average of nine films have been appealed each year. More recently, the number of films appealed is even lower. Since 2010, an average of five films have been appealed per year.
(Note: Excluding 2018, since full numbers are not yet available for the year. )
1984, the year the PG-13 rating was introduced, saw the highest number of rating appeals. 18 ratings were appealed, or six percent of the total number of films rated. 1984 was also the year with the highest number of ratings overturned on appeal (3.4%).
2016 had the lowest number of rating appeals, with only one.
On average, less than one percent of films have their ratings overturned on appeal each year (0.7%). There were five years – including 2016 – in which no ratings were overturned.